Leszek Balcerowicz
Date of birth: 19.01.1947
Leszek Henry Balcerowicz - Polish economist and politician. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the governments (1989-1991, 1991, 1997-2000). Chairman of the National Bank of Poland (2001-2007). Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics.
Place of birth. Education. Born in Lipno, Voivodeship of Włocławek. In 1970 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Foreign Trade at the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw (now: Warsaw School of Economics). From 1972 to 1974, he studied at St. John's University in New York, USA. In 1975, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw.
Career. From 1969 to 1981, he was a member of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party (PVAP).
From 1978 to 1980, he worked at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Warsaw.
From 1978 to 1981, he led a group of scholars who developed an alternative plan for economic reforms in Poland.
From 1980 to 1981, he was an advisor to the trade union association Solidarity.
In August 1989, Lech Wałęsa proposed Balcerowicz to join the first Solidarity government and lead economic reforms in Poland.
On September 12, 1989, Balcerowicz became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Tadeusz Mazowiecki's government and led the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers of Poland.
Balcerowicz proposed his plan to quickly transition from the planned state economy inherited from the People's Republic of Poland to market relations and predominant private ownership. The proposed reform complex was named the Balcerowicz Plan and was often referred to as 'shock therapy'.
The Balcerowicz Plan envisioned strict limits on inflation, budget balance within a year, equilibrium of goods and money markets, and the transition of all economic sectors to a market basis. For this, retail prices were raised, budget subsidies were cut, money income was limited, and for companies, partial internal convertibility of the zloty was introduced and a unified exchange rate was set.
Balcerowicz retained his position in the cabinet of Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, but in December 1991, Jan Olszewski's government was formed without his involvement.
After leaving the government, Balcerowicz worked as a visiting scholar at Brown University and the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington D.C. (USA). Since October 1992, he has been teaching at the Warsaw School of Economics.
From 1992 to 2000, he was the chairman of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Warsaw.
In April 1995, he founded the Freedom Union party, which he led until December 2000. In 1997, the party finished third in the elections and joined the ruling coalition.
From October 1997 to June 2000, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Jerzy Buzek's government.
From January 2001 to January 2007, he was the president of the National Bank, his candidacy for this position was proposed by Poland's President Aleksander Kwaśniewski.
From 2000 to 2002, Balcerowicz was also an economic advisor to the Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze.
In 2003, he was elected a member of the esteemed group of authorities of the International Financial Institutions.
In 2007, he founded and led the Citizen Development Foundation.
In October 2008, Balcerowicz became one of eight members of the European Expert Group to develop recommendations to cope with the impacts of the global financial crisis in the countries of the European Union.
From 2008 to 2012, he was the chairman of the Board of the research organization Bruegel.
On April 22, 2016, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed a decree appointing Balcerowicz as the President's representative in the Cabinet of Ukraine and co-chairman of the Strategic Advisory Group for Supporting Reforms in Ukraine. One of the focuses of his new position was the active collaboration with Western investors and politicians to represent the real situation in Ukraine.
In April 2017 Leszek Balcerowicz completed his mission in Ukraine as planned from the beginning and did not extend his collaboration with the Strategic Advisory Group for Supporting Reforms (SAGSUR).
Awards. Balcerowicz has received a number of prestigious awards and recognitions, both Polish and international. In 2005, Kwaśniewski awarded him the highest honor of the country - the Order of the White Eagle - for his contribution to the transformation of the Polish economy. In July 2007, the European Enterprise Institute (Brussels) awarded Balcerowicz the title of 'greatest reformer in the European Union countries'.
He is an honorary doctor of 30 universities in various countries and the author of over a hundred publications on economic topics.
Family. Married, has three children.
04.01.2024