Minouche Shafik, Baroness Shafik

Nemat Talaat Shafik, Baroness Shafik DBE (Arabic: نعمت شفيق; born 13 August 1962), known as Minouche Shafik, is an Egyptian-born British-American economist[1] who served as the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England[2] from August 2014 to February 2017 and has served as the Director of the London School of Economics since September 2017.[3]

The Right Honourable The Baroness Shafik DBE
Minouche Shafik in March 2009
16th Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2017
Preceded by	Craig Calhoun (2016)
Deputy Governor (Markets and Banking) of the Bank of England
In office 1 August 2014 – 28 February 2017
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Charlotte Hogg
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 October 2020 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	Nemat Talaat Shafik 13 August 1962 Alexandria, Egypt
Nationality	UK US Egyptian
Alma mater	American University in Cairo University of Massachusetts-Amherst London School of Economics St Antony's College, Oxford

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Shafik studied at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the London School of Economics before receiving her doctorate from St Antony's College, Oxford.[4] Shafik served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development from March 2008 to March 2011, when she went on to serve as the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.[5]

She joined the Bank of England as its first Deputy Governor on Markets and Banking responsible for the Bank's £500 billion balance sheet and served as a Member of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee and the Board of the Prudential Regulatory Authority. She led the Bank's Fair and Effective Markets review to tackle misconduct in financial markets. On 12 September 2016, it was announced that Shafik had been appointed as the next Director of the London School of Economics, replacing sociologist Craig Calhoun. She took up the post on 1 September 2017.[6]

Career

Shafik joined the World Bank after Oxford and held a variety of roles, starting in the research department where she worked on global economic modelling and forecasting and then later on environmental issues. She moved to do macroeconomic work on Eastern Europe during the transition and in the Middle East where she published a number of books and articles on the region's economic future, the economics of peace, labour markets, regional integration, and gender issues.[7]

Shafik became the youngest ever Vice President at the World Bank at the age of 36.[8][9]

She initially went to the British Government's Department for International Development (DFID) on secondment as Director General for Country Programmes where she was responsible for all of DFID's overseas offices and financing across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. She was appointed as DFID's Permanent Secretary in 2008 where she managed a bilateral aid programme in over 100 countries, multilateral policies and financing for the United Nations, European Union and international financial institutions, and overall development policy and research – responsible for 2400 staff and a budget of £38 billion (about US$60 billion) for 2011–2014. During her tenure, DFID was described by the OECD independent peer review as "a recognised international leader in development".[10]

Nemat Shafik served as IMF Deputy Managing Director from April 2011 until March 2014. As Deputy Managing Director, Ms. Shafik was responsible for the IMF's work in Europe and the Middle East, a $1 billion administrative budget, human resources for its 3,000 staff and the IMF's training and technical assistance for policy makers around the world.[11]

An economist by training, she has held a number of senior positions in international organisations. She has also spoken, taught and published extensively on globalisation, emerging markets and private investment, international development, the future of Middle East and Africa, and the environment.[12]

Academic work

Shafik on the far right with Barack Obama and Christine Lagarde

Shafik has held academic appointments at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Economics Department at Georgetown University. She has authored, edited, and co-authored a number of books, including Prospects for the Middle East and North African Economies: from Boom to Bust and Back? and Challenges Facing Middle Eastern and North African Countries: Alternative Futures, and Reviving Private Investment in Developing Countries. She has written articles for a number of publications, including Oxford Economic Papers,[13] Colombia Journal of World Business, The Middle East Journal, Journal of African Finance and Economic Development, World Development, and the Journal of Development Economics. She contributes to a blog with other heads of development agencies at Ideas4development.org.[14]

In September 2016, Shafik was appointed as the 16th Director of the London School of Economics (LSE), effective from 1 September 2017.[3]

Boards and charitable activities

Dame Nemat Shafik has chaired several international consultative groups including: the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme,[15] the Global Water and Sanitation Program,[16] Cities Alliance,[17] InfoDev,[18] the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility,[19] and the Global Corporate Governance Forum.[20] She was instrumental in launching the Africa Infrastructure Consortium.[21] She served on a number of boards including the Middle East Advisory Group to the International Monetary Fund,[22] and the Economic Research Forum for the Arab World, Iran and Turkey.[23] She is also active on the board and as a mentor to the Minority Ethnic Talent Association which supports under-represented groups to advance to senior positions in the civil service.[24]

She currently serves as a Trustee of the British Museum,[25] the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Supervisory Board of Siemens,[26] the Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health,[27] the New Economy Forum,[28] and the Per Jacobsson Foundation.[29]

Awards

Shafik was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the June 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours.[30]

She was named "GG2 Woman of the Year" in 2009.[31] She was named as one of Forbes 100 most powerful women in 2015[32][33] and received the 100 Women in Finance European Industry Leaders Award in 2019.[34]

She was created Baroness Shafik, of Camden in the London Borough of Camden and of Alexandria in the Arab Republic of Egypt, in the 2020 Political Honours and was introduced to the House of Lords on 15 October 2020.[35][36] She made her maiden speech on 28th January 2021.

Personal

She has twin children with her second husband, Raffael Jovine, and three stepchildren.[30] She speaks English, Arabic, and French[9] and holds both US and UK nationality.[37]

References

1. Dudman, Jane (11 April 2013). "Nemat Shafik: Global Public Leaders Series keynote speaker". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
2. Chan, Szu Ping; Quinn, James (12 September 2016). "Bank of England deputy Governor Minouche Shafik quits after just two years". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
3. The London School of Economics and Political Science. "LSE appoints Deputy Governor of Bank of England as new Director". LSE Website. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
4. Bray, Chad (12 September 2016). "Deputy Governor of Bank of England to Lead London School of Economics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
5. "Nemat Shafik biodata". Imf.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
6. Science, London School of Economics and Political. "Meet the Director". London School of Economics and Political Science.
7. "Nemat Shafik [profile]". International Monetary Fund. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
8. "Conversations with History: Nemat Shafik". Globetrotter.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
9. "Deputy Managing Director, IMF". The World Bank. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
10. "United Kingdom (2010) DAC Peer Review – Main Findings and Recommendations". Oecd.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
11. "Nemat Shafik Biographical Information". imf.org. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
12. "PBS Interview of Nemat Shafik". Pbs.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
13. Shafik, N. (1994). "Economic development and environmental quality: an econometric analysis". Oxford Economic Papers. 46: 757–773. doi:10.1093/oep/46.Supplement_1.757.
14. "Ideas 4 Development blogsite". Ideas4development.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
15. Staff. "Energy Sector Management Assistance Program website". Esmap.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
16. "Water and Sanitation Program website". Wsp.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
17. "The Cities Alliance website". Citiesalliance.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
18. "infoDev website". Infodev.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
19. "Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) website". PPIAF.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
20. "Global Corporate Governance Forum website". Gcgf.org. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
21. "Infrastructure Consortium for Africa website". Icafrica.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
22. "International Monetary Fund website". Imf.org. 26 April 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
23. "Economic Research Forum website". Erf.org. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
24. "Civil Service Live Network Article – A working partnership". Network.civilservicelive.com. 7 April 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
25. "The British Museum – Trustee Dame Nemat (Minouche) Shafik". britishmuseum.org.
26. "Siemens - Supervisory Board". siemens.com.
27. Michael R. Bloomberg and Lawrence H. Summers Create Task Force to Address Preventable Leading Causes of Death and Noncommunicable Diseases Through Fiscal Policy Bloomberg Philanthropies, press release of 18 January 2018.
28. "New Economy Forum - Advisory Board". neweconomyforum.com.
29. "Per Jacobsson Foundation Directors and Officers". www.perjacobsson.org.
30. Ashton, James (22 June 2015). "Bank of England's Minouche Shafik: 'We want to make life difficult for the bad apples in banking'". Evening Standard.
31. "GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards". Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
32. "The World's Most Powerful Women: 19 Newcomers To The 2015 List". forbes.com.
33. "#59 Nemat (Minouche) Shafik". forbes.com.
34. "Dame Minouche Shafik Named Recipient of 100 Women in Finance's 2018 European Industry Leadership Award to be presented at London Gala".
35. "No. 28398". The Edinburgh Gazette. 2 October 2020. p. 1610.
36. "Political Peerages 2020" (PDF). GOV.UK. 31 July 2020.
37. Profile, TheGuardian.com; accessed 13 April 2016.

Sources

• "New top civil servant for DFID". DFID.gov.uk. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.

External links

• Full text of doctoral thesis, "Private investment and public policy in Egypt, 1960-1986" via Oxford Research Archive
• Shafik on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2018