Mugur Isărescu

Who is Mugur Isărescu?

Mugur Isărescu is the Governor of the National Bank of Romania. From 22 December 1999 to 28 November 2000 he served as Prime Minister. He is a member of the Romanian Academy.

Born in Drăgăşani, Vâlcea County, he graduated in 1971 from the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest. For the next 19 years, he worked for the Institute of International Economics.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then for the Romanian Embassy in the United States. In September 1990 he became Governor of the National Bank of Romania, a position that he has retained since.

On 16 December 1999 Isărescu was sworn in as Prime Minister of Romania, but only for about a year, since in November 2000, the ruling coalition lost the elections.

In November 2000 Isărescu ran for President of Romania but was soundly defeated, coming in fourth place and receiving 9% of the vote.

Thereafter, he returned to the National Bank of Romania for another term as Governor.

Although he served only one year as Prime Minister, Isărescu is considered to have started the reform process, continued later by Adrian Năstase and Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. During his premiership, on February 15, 2000, Romania formally initiated negotiations with the European Union. As governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu has coordinated Romania's economic policy since 1990, being considered by some the hidden Prime Minister of the country.