Georgios Alogoskoufis
| Georgios Alogoskoufis Γιώργος Αλογοσκούφης |
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|---|---|
.JPG) |
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| Minister of the Economy and Finance | |
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In office 10 March 2004 – 8 January 2009 |
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| Prime Minister | Kostas Karamanlis |
| Preceded by | Nikos Christodoulakis |
| Succeeded by | Yannis Papathanasiou |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 October 1955 Athens, Greece |
| Political party | New Democracy |
| Spouse(s) | Dika Agapitidou |
| Alma mater |
University of Athens London School of Economics |
| Website | Official website |
Georgios Alogoskoufis (Greek: Γιώργος Αλογοσκούφης) (born October 17, 1955) is a Professor of Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business since 1990. He was a member of the Hellenic Parliament from September 1996 till October 2009 and served as Greece's Minister of Economy and Finance from March 2004 till January 2009.
During 2004-2008 Greece's economic performance seemed extremely positive. The average growth rate was 4% per annum, unemployment fell from 10.5% in 2004 to 7.7% in 2008 just changing the way of measuring it, and public debt increased from 180 bil euro to 300 bil euro. Alogoskoufis initiated a number of policy reforms, such as the simplification of the Greek tax system such as revoking inheritance taxes for rich people, extensive privatisations, create 700 new government institutions to hire more people to the public section, export promotion, public/private partnerships etc. His supporters point out that problems for the Greek economy appeared after Alogoskoufis was replaced as minister, at the end of 2008, and especially after the change in government in October 2010. These problems appeared because of structural weaknesses in the Greek economy, such as the high public debt that was accumulated during the 1980s, the financial crisis and the partial reversal of the policies that Alogoskoufis pursued, by his successors.
George Alogoskoufis was born in Athens on October 17, 1955.
In the period in which Alogoskoufis served as the minister for Economy and Finance, he actuated a series of economic structural reforms and fiscal adjustment to contain budget deficits, which, although unpopular, have managed to slash Greece's budget deficit to 2.6% of the gross domestic product. In the same period of time, Greece's gross domestic product has grown with a 4%, maintaining one of the highest growth rates in the Eurozone. Although unemployment had fallen from 11% to 9% in the period between 2004 and 2007, just changing the way of measuring it, it remains one of the highest in Europe.
During 2004–2007, corporate and personal income taxes were reduced for rich people from 45% to 40% and increased for poor people from 12% to 29% and the tax system was simplified with the tax reform such as revoking inheritance taxes for rich people. He worked extensively with the private sector and sold over euro 6 billion of government holdings.
Alogoskoufis made a decision to revise GDP upward by 25 percent and was heavily criticized by television network CNN and EU accepted a lower revise.Greek GDP revision was part of the annual catalog of 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.[4]
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