Former SSE Riga lecturer Mārtiņš Kazāks appointed President of the Bank of Latvia
On 12 December 2019, former SSE Riga lecturer Mārtiņš Kazāks was appointed as the next head of the Latvian Central Bank ‒ and by extension a member of the European Central Bank's governing council ‒ when the mandate of the current governor comes to an end.
Photo: Ernests Dinka, Saeima, 12.12.2019.
Mārtiņš Kazāks was a lecturer at SSE Riga from 1996 to 2008 on the BSc programme and ties have been close with SSE Riga faculty for many years.
Says SSE Riga rector Anders Paalzow of his former colleague: “Over the years Mārtiņš Kazāks has proved himself a top economist and a strategic leader. I hope he will lead the Bank of Latvia to be a frontrunner. He has stated that his mission is ‘to create an efficient, open and modern central bank ‒ the best central bank in Northern Europe’ and I truly wish him to succeed on this road.”
Adds Morten Hansen, Head of the Economics department at SSE Riga: “I first met Martins Kazaks in 1994, when he was my student at the EuroFaculty at the University of Latvia. Later we were colleagues at SSE Riga as well as on the Fiscal Discipline Council of Latvia. Indeed, the best choice for governor of Bank of Latvia!”.
Background of Martins Kazaks:
November 2005 ‒ Chief Economist of AS "Swedbank Latvia"; since January 2010 ‒ Deputy Chief Economist of the "Swedbank Group". From 1994 to 1995, Chief Economist, Department of Macro-fiscal Analysis and Forecasting, Latvian Ministry of Finance. A former member of the President's Strategic Analysis Commission, also a member of the Fiscal Discipline Council. He is one of the most quoted economists in Latvia. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Latvia, a Diploma in Economics from the University of Cambridge, MSc (with Distinction) and PhD in Economics from Queen Mary University, London. His major research interests are in the area of exchange rate economics and applied time series econometrics.