It is with deep regret that we bid farewell to the former Bank of Greece Governor, George Provopoulos, who passed away on Tuesday, 28 May.
A distinguished academic and economist, George Provopoulos was Governor of the Bank of Greece from 2008 to 2014, having previously served as Deputy Governor from 1990 to 1993. The start of his tenure coincided with the onset of the global financial crisis. As noted in a Statement by the current Governor, Yannis Stournaras, Provopoulos “made a significant contribution to fiscal policy and the restructuring of the banking sector and, as Governor of the Bank of Greece from 2008 to 2014, managed in the best possible way the impact of the sovereign debt crisis on the banking sector”.
A few words about George Provopoulos
Provopoulos’ professional career included senior positions in the banking sector (TT Hellenic Postbank, Alpha Bank, Emporiki Bank, Piraeus Bank), as well as in the country’s most prominent economic research institutes (Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research, Centre of Planning and Economic Research, Hellenic Centre for Investment).
He was Vice-President of the Hellenic Bank Association, member of the Monetary Committee of the European Union, Alternate Governor for Greece at the International Monetary Fund and President of the Council of Economic Experts.
George Provopoulos graduated in 1973 from the Economics Department of the Athens Law School. On a state scholarship, he pursued graduate studies at the University of Essex, obtaining an MA and a PhD in Economics in 1974 and 1977, respectively.
He was Associate Professor at the Department of Economics of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
He was also a member of the committee which, led by Prof. Angelos Angelopoulos, prepared a Report on the Stabilisation and Growth of the Greek Economy (April 1990), commissioned by the then Prime Minister, Prof. Xenophon Zolotas. He was chairman of the committee set up by a joint decision of the Minister of Economy and Finance and the Minister of Health, Welfare and Social Insurance to study and report on a possible transformation of social security funds into collective investment schemes. He also chaired a committee for the reform of the Greek tax system established in November 1989.
For his book entitled “The Dynamics of the Financial System”, co-authored with Panayotis Kapopoulos, he received the Award of the Class of Ethical and Political Sciences from the Academy of Athens in 2003.