Álvaro Pereira

Álvaro Pereira

Chief Economist and G20 Finance Deputy ad interim, OECD

Álvaro Santos Pereira is currently the Chief Economist and G20 Finance Deputy ad interim of the OECD.  On 1st April 2014 he was appointed the Director of the Country Studies Branch at the Economics Department  where he oversaw the peer review process for the Economic Surveys. He provides leadership in the co-ordination and management of the activities of the Directorate and ensures that it is at the forefront of the international political economy agenda. He identifies challenges and develops ways in which the OECD can promote policies to improve member and partner countries long-term economic performance.

Prior to joining the OECD, between June 2011 and July 2013, Mr. Pereira was Minister for Economy and Employment in Portugal, responsible for the areas of Industry, Commerce and Services, Tourism, Energy and Public Works, Transportation, and Employment. As one of the largest ministries of the Portuguese government, Mr. Pereira was in charge of a major programme of economic and labour reforms. Prior to this, he was a professor of Economic Development and Economic Policy at Simon Fraser University in Canada, and a lecturer at the University of British Columbia in Canada and the University of York in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Pereira published a number of academic books and papers among which Portugal’s Moment of Truth: New Economic Policy for Portugal (2011), The Fear of Failure: History and Economic Policy in Portugal (2009), and The Myths of the Portuguese Economy (2007), and was a columnist in various Portuguese Newspapers, such as the “Diário Económico”.

Mr. Pereira is a citizen of Portugal and Canada, holds a BA in Economics from the University of Coimbra, an MSc Economics from the University of Exeter and a PhD in Economics from Simon Fraser University.