Álvaro Miguel Rodrigues dos Santos Pereira (born 7 January 1972) is a Portuguese economist, professor and writer. He was the Minister of Economy and Labour of Portugal between June 2011 and July 2013 in the

XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal The XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal ( Portuguese: ''XIX Governo Constitucional de Portugal'') was the 19th government of the Third Portuguese Republic, under the current Constitution. It was in office from 21 June 2011 to 30 October 2 ...

Early life

Álvaro Santos Pereira was born in

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões Interm ...

, Portugal in 1972. He attended the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

, where he was awarded a degree in economics by the ''Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra'' (FEUC) (Economics School of the University of Coimbra) and has a master's degree by the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

. He is also a PhD in economics by the

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

(British Columbia, Canada).

Career

He has been a professor of

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

and

economic policy ''Economic Policy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press, Oxford Academic on behalf of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the Center for Economic Studies (University of Munich), and the Paris Scho ...

at the Simon Fraser University and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. In June 2011, he was appointed Minister of Economy, Labour, Transport, Public Works and Communications of Portugal in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Pedro Passos Coelho Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (; born 24 July 1964) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese politician and university guest lecturer who was the List of prime ministers of Portugal, 117th prime minister of Portugal, in office from 2011 to 201 ...

. His tenure as Minister became known due to his initial aggressive stance against the energy lobby – led by EDP – Electricidade de Portugal – and conciliatory settlement in the end. The negotiations regarding excessive rents led by Santos Pereira, resulted in EDP receiving less €30 million p.a. It now appears that excessive rents being charged by EDP could have amounted to €2 billion. Effective 1 April 2014, he is Director of the Country Studies Branch of the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

Economics Department. On 19 July 2025, Álvaro Santos Pereira was nominated as the Governor of the

Bank of Portugal The Banco de Portugal (, ) is the national central bank for Portugal within the Eurosystem. It was the Portuguese central bank from 1846 to 1998, issuing the escudo. Since 2014, it has also been Portugal's national competent authority within E ...

, succeeding Mário Centeno upon the expiration of his term.https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/portugal-picks-oecds-santos-pereira-replace-centeno-central-bank-chief-2025-07-24/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos Pereira, Alvaro Government ministers of Portugal 20th-century Portuguese economists Portuguese male writers 1972 births People from Viseu University of Coimbra alumni Simon Fraser University alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Academic staff of Simon Fraser University Living people 21st-century Portuguese economists OECD officials