György Szapáry

György Szapáry
György Szapáry in June 2011
Hungarian Ambassador to the United States
In office January 2011 – January 2015
Preceded by	Béla Szombati
Succeeded by	Réka Szemerkényi
Personal details
Born	(1938-08-01) August 1, 1938 (age 78) Tiszabura, Hungary
Political party	independent
Spouse(s)	Daniéle Héléne Lucienne Winckelmans
Children	Philippe Christophe
Profession	diplomat, economist

György Szapáry (born 1 August 1938) is a Hungarian–Belgian economist, who served as the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States between 2011 and 2015. He was also a former Deputy Governor of the Hungarian National Bank.

He was born as Count György Béla Mária József István Szapáry de Szapár, Muraszombat et Széchy-Sziget (Hungarian: szapári, muraszombati és széchy-szigeti gróf Szapáry György Béla Mária József István) into a prominent aristocrat family in Tiszabura. His parents were Count Gyula Szapáry de Szapár, Muraszombat et Széchy-Sziget and Countess Adél Etelka Hadik de Futak. One of his great-grandfathers was Gyula Szapáry, the Prime Minister of Hungary between 1890 and 1892. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 he emigrated to Austria then Belgium. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate in economics from the Catholic University of Leuven. His academic opponent was Sándor Lámfalussy.

Between 1965 and 1966, he worked for the Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC). Since 1967, he worked at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., most recently as assistant director, from 1966 to 1993. Returning home and granting Hungarian citizenship in 1990, Szapáry was senior resident representative of the International Monetary Fund in Hungary (1990–1993). Then he served as deputy governor of the Hungarian National Bank and thus a member of the Monetary Council on two occasions (1993–1999 then 2001–2007), under governors Péter Ákos Bod and Zsigmond Járai, as well as advisor to György Surányi, the Governor of the Hungarian National Bank (1999–2001).