Gabriel Makhlouf

Gabriel Makhlouf is a British economist who has served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland since September 2019.[2] He was previously Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury and Private Secretary to then British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.[3]

Gabriel Makhlouf
Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2019
Taoiseach	Leo Varadkar Micheál Martin
Preceded by	Philip R. Lane (Permanent) Sharon Donnery (Acting)
Personal details
Born	1960 Egypt[1]
Nationality	British[1]
Alma mater	University of Exeter University of Bath

He was appointed to the Central Bank after an open international competition led to him being the only name put forward to the Government of Ireland for appointment.[1] However, his appointment has not been uncontroversial due to a controversy in New Zealand when he claimed the disclosure of sensitive information was the result of a deliberate hack when the information had actually been disclosed accidentally.[1] In July 2019, The Irish Times reported that the European Central Bank had raised concerns with the Irish government about Makhlouf. These reportedly included that he was not an economist and that he is a British citizen.[4]

Gabriel Makhlouf was born in Egypt to a Cypriot-British father and Greek-Armenian mother.[5]

Notes

1. Harriet Russell (2 September 2019). "The only Briton at the ECB table: Who is Gabriel Makhlouf, the new governor of the Irish Central Bank?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
2. "Our Senior Team – Bios". Central Bank of Ireland. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
3. "Who is Gabriel Makhlouf, Central Bank governor in waiting?". The Irish Times. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
4. Fiach Kelly (29 July 2019). "ECB raised concerns over new Central Bank of Ireland boss". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
5. "Ireland's central banker warns on homes spending spree". Financial Times. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.