Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Jean Godeaux (3 July 1922 – 27 April 2009) 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,

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and former 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 1982 until 1989. Jean Godeaux studied both law and economics, and started his career in 1947 at the NBB in the Foreign Affairs department. From 1949 until 1955, he was a member of the Belgian delegation to the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

. When he returned to Brussels in 1955, he was appointed as a director of the Banque Lambert, where he subsequently became co-administrator, and later

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the bank. He was involved in the preparations for the merger with the Banque de Bruxelles, which would lead to the creation of the ''

Banque Bruxelles Lambert Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL, french: Banque Bruxelles Lambert) was a Belgian bank that was created through merger in 1975 and became part of ING Group in 1998. It provided retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Belgi ...

''. Godeaux resigned in 1974, before the finalisation of the merger, in order to become the president of the Banking Commission of Belgium, and in 1979 he joined the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

's Banking Advisory Committee. When he was appointed as governor of the NBB in 1982, he was immediately faced with the devaluation of the

Belgian franc The Belgian franc ( nl, Belgische frank, french: Franc belge, german: Belgischer Franken) was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutch ...

. Due to this devaluation the relations with

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

had been seriously disrupted and he had the task to normalize the relations. In 1988, Godeaux became president of the Committee of Governors of the Central Banks of the Member States of the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

, and of the ''

European Monetary Cooperation Fund The European Monetary Cooperation Fund (EMCF) was a fund established in April 1973 by members of the European Economic Community (EEC) to ensure concerted action for a proper functioning of the Community exchange system. The EMCF was located in Lu ...

''. In 1989 he contributed to the preparation of the Delors Report. He left the NBB in 1990, after which he joined the board of the

Société Générale de Belgique The ' ( nl, Generale Maatschappij van België; literally "General Company of Belgium") was a large Belgian bank and later holdings company which existed between 1822 and 2003. The ''Société générale'' was originally founded as an investme ...

, where he stayed until 1996. He was succeeded by

Alfons Verplaetse Alfons "Fons" Remi Emiel, Viscount Verplaetse (19 February 1930 – 15 October 2020) was a Belgian economist who served as Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1989 until 1999. He was one of the architects of the devaluation of the ...

as governor of the NBB. Godeaux had a passion for poetry. The poet

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

was, by far, one of his favorites. Godeaux made a conference on him at the Midis de la Poésie in 1992. Godeaux died 27 April 2009 at the age of 86.

Sources

Entretien avec le Baron Jean Godeaux à propos de la lutte contre la corruption
(French) * Jean Godeaux, ''Report on the Measurement of International Capital Flows'', Balance of Payments Compilation Guide, published by the International Monetary Fund, p. 65. 2009 deaths Belgian economists Belgian civil servants Governors of the National Bank of Belgium 1922 births {{Belgium-bio-stub