Birth: NULL/NULL/1952 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Deir Al-Ghussun, near Tulkarem, in 1952; studied Engineering at the AUB, graduating with a BSc in 1975; continued his studies and earned an MBA in Accounting from St. Edward’s University (1980) and a PhD in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin (1986); worked in the private sector in Jordan and as university researcher at the University of Texas at Austin and at Yarmouk University in Jordan; scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; worked as an economist at the World Bank in Washington from 1987 until 1995; joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1992 and held several positions over the next ten years, incl. Resident Representative of the IMF in the West Bank and Gaza (1995-2001), working on financial reform for the PA Ministry of Finance; played a central role in establishing the Palestine Investment Fund in Oct. 2000, of which he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors; Chairman of the Board of Insurance and the Salaries Fund; in 2002, left the IMF and became the Regional Manager for the Arab Bank – Palestine, before being asked to serve as PA Finance Minister, a post he accepted in June 2002; as such very much involved in the (financial) reform process in Palestine; submitted the first publicly disclosed PA budget that was approved by the PLC in early 2003; became Minister of Finance in the cabinet of PM Mahmoud Abbas on 30 April 2003; member (Finance Minister) in the Oct. 2003 Emergency Govt. of the PA; appointed Minister of Finance in the Nov. 2003 govt. of PM Ahmed Qrei’a; nominated as Minister of Finance in the Qrei’a Cabinet, approved by the PLC on 16 Feb. 2005 (until after the Jan. 2006 PLC elections); established – together with Hanan Ashrawi – the Third Way faction and was elected as number one on that list in the 2006 PLC elections.
