How Poland's EU Membership Helped Transform Its Economy Occasional
How Poland’s EU Membership Helped Transform its Economy Marek Belka Occasional Paper 88 Group of Thirty, Washington, D.C. About the Author Marek Belka is the President of the National Bank of Poland. After completing economic studies at the University of Łódź in 1972, Professor Belka worked in the university’s Institute of Economics. He earned a PhD in 1978 and a postdoctoral degree in economics in 1986. Since 1986, he has been associated with the Polish Academy of Sciences. During 1978–79 and 1985–86, he was a research fellow at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, respectively, and in 1990, at the London School of Economics. He received the title of Professor of Economics in 1994. Since the 1990s, Professor Belka has held important public positions both in Poland and abroad. In 1990, he became consultant and adviser at Poland’s Ministry of Finance, then at the Ministry of Ownership Transformations and the Central Planning Office. In 1996, he became consultant to the World Bank. During 1994–96, he was Vice-Chairman of the Council of Socio-Economic Strategy at Poland’s Council of Ministers, and later economic adviser to the President of the Republic of Poland. Professor Belka served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on two occasions—in 1997, in the government of Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, and during 2001–02, in the government of Leszek Miller. During 2004–05, he was Prime Minister of Poland. Since 2006, Professor Belka has been Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and since January 2009, he has been Director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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