Born in Athens, December 10, 1956. He graduated from the Department of Economics, University of Athens (1978). He obtained his post-graduate degrees (MPhil 1980, DPhil 1982) from Oxford University, where he also worked from 1981 to 1985 as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at St. Catherine’s College and as Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
Today he is Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Athens (joined 1989). From 1994 to July 2000 he was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
From 2000 to 2004 he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emporiki Bank. He served as Director General of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) (September 2009-June 2012).
He was Minister of Finance from July 2012 until June 2014. Since June 2014 he is Governor of the Bank of Greece.