Alfons "Fons" Remi Emiel, Viscount Verplaetse (19 February 1930 – 15 October 2020) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

economist who served as Governor of the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% pr ...

(NBB) from 1989 until 1999. He was one of the architects of the devaluation of the Belgian Frank in 1982 when he worked at the cabinet of Wilfried Martens in the government Martens V. As governor of the NBB, he prepared the entry of Belgium to the

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in 1999.

Career

Verplaetse was born on 19 February 1930, in

Zulte Zulte () is a Belgian municipality located in Flanders and in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Machelen, and Zulte proper. In 2021, Zulte had a total population of 15,843. The total area is 32.52&nbs ...

. After he graduated in commercial sciences from the Catholic University of Leuven, Alfons Verplaetse started his career at the National Bank in 1953, where he worked at the Research department. In 1982, in the government Martens V, he was seconded to the Prime Minister's Office as associate chief of staff, and subsequently as head of the Economic Office until 1987. Together with Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou, he was one of the architects of the economic recovery policy launched by the February 1982 devaluation of the Belgian franc. The plan was mainly conceived by four people meeting in Verplaetse's holiday residence in , a tiny village in the Ardennes. Later Poupehan became a term for backroom politics. He was appointed as a director of the NBB in 1985 and became vice-governor in 1988 and succeeded Jean Godeaux as governor in 1989. In 1990, the Belgian franc was linked to the German mark, in order to stabilise the Belgian currency. The reform of the Belgian monetary policy instruments in 1991 was another step to stabilise and improve the Belgian monetary situation. An important challenge of his tenure as governor of the NBB was the European monetary integration, which was initiated under Jacques Delors. Alfons Verplaetse became a member of the board of governors of the European Monetary Institute in 1994 and of the Governing Council of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...

in 1998. Verplaetse was supposed to retire in 1997, but remained in office until 1999 to oversee the introduction of the

to replace the Belgian franc, on 1 January 1999, as the official currency of Belgium. He was succeeded by

Guy Quaden Guy, Baron Quaden (born 5 August 1945 in Liège, Belgium) is a Belgian economist. He was Governor of the National Bank of Belgium 2003–11, and as such a member of the Governing and General Councils of the European Central Bank. Since 2003 he ha ...

as governor of the National Bank. On 10 March 1997, Verplaetse was elected President of the Bank for International Settlements. He was replaced on 8 February 1999 by Urban Bäckström. After his retirement, he made his expertise available in the service of economic and financial development in the

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. Verplaetse died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

on 15 October 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium The COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on 4 February 2020, when one of a group of nine Belgians repatriated from Wuhan to Brussels was repor ...

.Press release by the National Bank of Belgium on the death of Verplaetse
/ref>Eregouverneur Nationale Bank Fons Verplaetse overleden aan coronavirus
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verplaetse, Alfons 1930 births 2020 deaths Belgian bankers Belgian businesspeople Belgian civil servants Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium Governors of the National Bank of Belgium Viscounts of Belgium People from Zulte