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Simeon Dyankov

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Simeon Djankov
Simeon Djankov in Washington, DC, March 4, 2011
Vice Premier Minister
Assumed office
July 2009
Finance Minister
Assumed office
July 2009
Preceded byPlamen Oresharski
Personal details
Born13 July 1970
Sofia, Bulgaria
Political partyGERB
SpouseCaroline Freund
WebsiteOfficial blog: Template:Bg icon www.simeondjankov.com

Simeon Djankov (Bulgarian: Симеон Дянков, Simeon Dyankov; b. 13 July 1970) is a Bulgarian economist and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria in the government of Boyko Borisov. Prior to his cabinet appointment, Simeon Djankov was a Chief economist of the finance and private sector vice-presidency of the World Bank. In his fourteen years at the World Bank, he worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the world. Simeon Djankov was a principal author of the World Development Report 2002. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and has published over 70 articles in academic journals, he also was an associate editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics from 2004 to 2009.

Djankov is married to the American World Bank economist Caroline Freund, and has two children.[1]

Biography

Early life in Bulgaria and work in Georgia

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria on 13 July 1970, Djankov attended a language high school in Lovech (1984–89). In 1989, he passed the entrance exam to the formerly named "Karl Marx Institute of Economics" (today University of National and World Economy) with the highest scores nationally[citation needed] .

In 1997, Simeon Djankov participated in a World Bank enterprise restructuring project in Georgia. For the next year, the project surveyed most of the manufacturing enterprises in Georgia, identifying those with good export opportunities.

Since 2004, after the Rose Revolution, Simeon Djankov has visited Georgia frequently and worked with the government on reforming the business environment. Zurab Nogaideli, prime minister between 2005 and 2007, won a Reformer of the Year award in 2007. Djankov has worked closely with Kakha Bendukidze, the main architect of Georgia's economic reforms.

The Doing Business project and Ideas42

Simeon Djankov has had a long and distinguished career at the World Bank, starting in 1995. He worked in over 100 countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Moldova, Paraguay, Slovakia, Slovenia and Yemen.

Simeon Djankov is the creator of the annual Doing Business report, the top-selling publication of the World Bank Group. The report came out of joint research work with Professor Andrei Shleifer at Harvard University, and was inspired by Djankov's experience in overly-regulated socialist economies. Since its initial publication in November 2003, Doing Business has generated 16,000 media citations, and over 100,000 copies sold.

Dr. Djankov also started the Doing Business blog and the the Crisistalk blog. The first focuses on the effect of regulatory reforms on growth and development; the second on the unfolding financial crisis.

In June 2008, Djankov established the think-tank Ideas42, a Harvard University-International Finance Corporation venture. Jointly with Antoinette Schoar (MIT Sloan), Eldar Shafir (Princeton) and Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard). The think tank applies the latest analysis to studying the economic lives of the poor, the development of small businesses, and access to finance. Several projects are co-sponsored with the Gates Foundation and the Institute for Financial Management and Research in India.

Minister of Finance of Bulgaria

On 27 July 2009, Simeon Djankov became Minister of Finance [2] of Bulgaria. As early successes, Minister Djankov reduced budget spending and managed to cut the budget deficit for 2009 to 0.756%, lowest in the European Union [3]; and to pass a balanced budget for 2010. Despite his efforts however the budget deficit for 2009 turned out to be 4.7% resulting from annexes by the previous government. In 2010 it remained still high and above the EU limits - 3.9%, but he promised to shrink it further to 2,7-2,8% in 2011. On December 1, 2009, Standard&Poors upgraded Bulgaria's investment outlook [4] from "negative" to "stable," the only country in the European Union to receive an upgrade since the financial crisis started. In January 2010 Moody's followed with an upgrade of its rating perspective from "stable" to "positive."

At the second GERB party congress Djankov urged delegates to lead such policies that the party wins a second term with full majority in parliament. This is needed, he said, to complete the reforms that would lead Bulgaria from poorest to middle-income country by Central European standards [5].

Dr Djankov is the second-youngest finance minister in the European Union, after the UK's George Osborne. He champions low taxes as a way to come out of the global economic crisis.

Burov Hall at the Ministry of Finance

In 2010, Simeon Djankov inaugurated the Burov Hall at the Ministry of Finance, in honor of Atanas Burov. The hall contains the original desk and bookcase of Burov, as well as the original national budgets from 1880 onward. The only surviving oilpaint portrait of Atanas Burov is also as the hall, on loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank. The Ministry of Finance has initiated a program to collect the Burov manuscripts.

Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria

As Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Djankov is responsible for the reforms in the public administration, healthcare, higher education, and pensions.

In July 2010, the results of the first year of administrative reform were reported. The number of public officials was reduced by 11%, and the number of government institutions by 8%. This is the first time since the fall of socialism that administrative reform has resulted in an actual optimization in government.

References

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