Mohamad Chatah
| Mohamad Chatah محمد شطح |
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|---|---|
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| Minister of Finance | |
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In office July 2008 – 2009 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Mohamad Bahaa Chatah March 27, 1951 Tripoli, Lebanon |
| Died | December 27, 2013 (aged 62) Beirut |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality |
Lebanese American |
| Children | Rony Chatah Omar Chatah |
| Alma mater |
American University in Beirut University of Texas |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Website | Chatah blog |
Mohamad Bahaa Chatah (Arabic: محمد بهاء شطح; 27 March 1951 – 27 December 2013) was a Lebanese economist and diplomat. He was a member of Lebanon's Sunni Muslim community.
Chatah was born in Tripoli, Lebanon. He studied economics at the American University in Beirut and earned a doctorate at the University of Texas in the United States. Then he taught economics at his alma mater, University of Texas.
In 1983 he secured a position with the International Monetary Fund as the deputy to the Executive Director, Dr. Mohamed Finaish. He served as Ambassador to the U.S. from 1997 to 2000. He returned to the IMF in 2001 and stayed until June 2005. Chatah's resignation from the IMF in 2005 coincided with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005; he returned to Lebanon as a senior adviser to the newly elected Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in August 2005 and served in the post until July 2008. During the July 2006 war, Chatah appeared on numerous Western news outlets as a public spokesman for the Lebanese government. When asked about the government's role in disarming local armed groups, Chatah said "we are doing it [through] dialogue and persuasion, and trying to reach a point where the state is the sole holder of weapons and the one with the only authority throughout our territory." He also served as vice-governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon.
Chatah was named the minister of finance of the 70th Lebanese government in July 2008 and held the position to November 2009. He served as foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Saad Hariri from November 2009 to January 2011. He was affiliated with the Hariri Future Movement, a Sunni political group, although he officially remained an independent figure in national politics.
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Wikipedia