Vítor Manuel Ribeiro Constâncio (born 12 October 1943) is a Portuguese economist and academic who most recently served as Vice President of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the 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 Big Four (banking)#International ...

, from 2010 to 2018. He previously served as Minister of Finance in 1978 and Governor of the Bank of Portugal from 1985 to 1986 and from 2000 to 2010. Since June 2018 he has been a professor at the School of Economics & Business Administration of the

University of Navarra The University of Navarra is a private Catholic research university located on the southeast border of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of '' Opus Dei'', as a corporat ...

Education

Constâncio graduated in economics from the Technical University of Lisbon (now called the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

) in 1965 and obtained a master's degree at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

in 1973-1974.

Career

Academic career and national public office

Constâncio was Assistant Professor in Economics at the Technical University of Lisbon from 1965 to 1973. From 1974 to 1975, he was Secretary of State for Planning in the I and II Provisional Government of Portugal, and Secretary of State for Budget and Planning in 1976 in the IV Provisional Government. This was directly in the wake of the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

. He then became Minister of Finance from January to August 1978 in the II Constitutional Government of Portugal, and is therefore until now the youngest Portuguese Finance Minister since the revolution. In 1980-1981, he was a professor at the Portuguese Catholic University. Constâncio was secretary-general of the Socialist Party from 1986 to 1989. He lost the legislative elections of 19 July 1987, but remained in office. He resigned the following year, being replaced by Jorge Sampaio. Constâncio was governor of the

Banco de Portugal The Banco de Portugal (, ) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Portugal within the Eurosystem. It was the Portuguese central bank from 1846 to 1998, issuing the Portuguese escudo, escudo. Since 2014, it has also ...

, the Portuguese central bank, for the first time in 1985–86, having been appointed vice-governor in 1977, in 1979, and in the period from 1981 to 1984. From 1993 to 1994, Constâncio served as chairman of Lisboa 94, the entity in charge of organizing the commemorative events of Lisbon as

European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...

. Between 1995 and 1999, Constâncio was a member of the

Portuguese Council of State The Council of State (, ) is a body established by the Portuguese Constitution to advise the President of the Republic in the exercise of many of his or her discretionary powers. History Although there are notices about the existence of a Counci ...

. During the same period, he served as Member of the Board (Executive Director) of Banco Português de Investimento (BPI), a leading private Portuguese banking group, with responsibility for Budget, Accounting and Control of Financial Market Risks. In this capacity, he represented BPI as non-executive member of the board of Portugal Telecom and subsequently as non-executive member of the Board of Energias de Portugal. Constâncio served once more as governor of the

from 2000 to 2010, having been re-appointed in 2006. Under his presidency the Bank of Portugal spent one third of its original holdings of 600 tons of gold to 400 tons, approximately. While in office, he advocated salaries stagnation or increases below inflation, as a way to increase the Portuguese economy's competitiveness. In 2005, Constâncio enraged right-wing politicians when he reviewed the previous conservative government's figures and revised the deficit up from around 3% to 6.8%.Luís Rego (24 February 2010)
Political banker
'' European Voice''. Two Portuguese banks ( Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) and Banco Privado Português (BPP)) had been accumulating losses for years due to bad investments, embezzlement and accounting fraud. The Portuguese Central Bank, led by Constâncio, was criticized for having allowed this situation for years.

European Central Bank, 2010–2018

Constâncio was first mentioned as a potential vice president of the

in 2002, to replace Christian Noyer. At the time, he cited family reasons for refusing to run for the post. Constâncio was eventually appointed vice president of

in 2010, for an eight-year mandate. At the time, he was chosen by

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

finance ministers ahead of Peter Praet, director of the National Bank of Belgium, and Yves Mersch, the governor of the Bank of Luxembourg, to replace

Lucas Papademos Lucas Demetrios Papademos (; born 11 October 1947) is a Greek economist and academic who served as Prime Minister of Greece from November 2011 to May 2012, leading a national unity government in the wake of the Greek government debt crisis, Greek ...

of Greece. During his time at the ECB, he developed a reputation as an inflation dove who often emphasised the need for economic growth. Shortly after, on 6 April 2011, the Portuguese Government, facing increasing difficulties in securing its financing needs in the international financial markets, formally requested international financial assistance leading to a €78 billion program with equal participation of the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, European Financial Stability Facility and

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

. In June 2018, at the end of his term of office, he was replaced as ECB vice president by Luis de Guindos.

Post European Central Bank

Since June 2018 he has been a professor at the School of Economics & Business Administration of the

Personal life

In 1968 he married Maria José Pardana. They have one son and one daughter.

Electoral history

PS leadership election, 1986

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! align="center" colspan=2 style="width: 60px", Candidate ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Vítor Constâncio , align=center , WIN , align=right , , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

Jaime Gama Jaime José de Matos da Gama (born 8 June 1947) is a Portugal, Portuguese former politician. In the Government of Portugal, Portuguese government, he served as Ministry of Internal Administration (Portugal), Minister of Internal Administration ...

, align=right , , align=right , , - , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Turnout , align=right , , align=center , , - , colspan="4" align=left, Source: PS Congress

Legislative election, 1987

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Candidate ! Votes ! align="center" style="width: 50px", % ! align="center" style="width: 50px", Seats ! align="center" style="width: 50px", +/− , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PSD , align=left ,

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...

, , 2,850,784 , , 50.2 , , 148 , , style="color:green;", +60 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", PS , align=left , Vítor Constâncio , , 1,262,506 , , 22.2 , , 60 , , style="color:green;", +3 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDU , align=left ,

Álvaro Cunhal Álvaro Barreirinhas Cunhal (; 10 November 1913 – 13 June 2005) was a Portuguese communist revolutionary and politician. He was one of the major opponents of the dictatorial regime of the '' Estado Novo''. He served as secretary-general of the P ...

, , 689,137 , , 12.1 , , 31 , , style="color:red;", –7 , - , style="background:green;", , align="left", PRD , align=left , António Ramalho Eanes , , 278,561 , , 4.9 , , 7 , , style="color:red;", –38 , - , style="background:;", , align="left", CDS , align=left ,

Adriano Moreira Adriano José Alves Moreira, ComC GCC GOIH GCSE (6 September 1922 – 23 October 2022) was a Portuguese lawyer, professor and a leading political figure in Portugal throughout the second half of the 20th century. Education Adriano Moreira ...

, , 251,987 , , 4.4 , , 4 , , style="color:red;", –18 , - , style="background:white;", , colspan="2" align="left", Other parties , 219,715 , , 3.9 , , 0 , , ±0 , - , colspan="3" align="left", Blank/Invalid ballots , 123,668 , , 2.2 , , – , , – , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , colspan="3" align="left", Turnout , 5,676,358 , , 71.57 , , 250 , , ±0 , - , colspan="7" align=left, Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições

Other activities

* Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Distinguished Fellow (since 2019) *

Financial Stability Board The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established in the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh Summit as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) ...

(FSB), Ex-Officio Member of the Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation *

, Member of the Advisory Board Advisory Board

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Constancio, Vitor 1943 births Finance ministers of Portugal Governors of the Bank of Portugal Living people Presidents of the Party of European Socialists Socialist Party (Portugal) politicians Technical University of Lisbon alumni Vice presidents of the European Central Bank