Ljubo Jurčić

Who is Ljubo Jurčić?

Ljubo Jurčić is a Croatian economist, current president of the Croatian Association of Economists since 2006 and former Croatian Minister of the Economy.

Ljubo Jurčić is a Bosnian Croat born in the village of Ružići, near Grude, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. Three of his uncles died in World War II, including one Maksimilijan Jurčić, a Franciscan friar who was killed by Yugoslav Partisans in 1945. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb and became a doctor of economic science.

From July 2002 to December 2003 he served as Economy minister in the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Ivica Račan.

Although he was not a member of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Croatia party, he was closely aligned with them as a non-partisan economic expert. As head of SDP's Council for Economy and Development, Jurčić formulated SDP's economic strategy that would be implemented should the party win the 2007 elections. The Social Democrats' Main Committee, following a proposal by party chairman Zoran Milanović, named Jurčić as SDP's candidate for the office of Prime Minister.

On November 30, 2007, this decision was reverted, with the election still running, and he was substituted with Zoran Milanović.