Following anticipated elections and the forming of a new government in Portugal, Mr Vitor Gaspar was appointed Minister of Finance on 17 June 2011, succeeding Mr Teixeira dos Santos. He also becomes EIB Governor for the Portuguese Republic.

Mr Vitor Gaspar, 50, was Special Advisor at the Banco de Portugal before becoming Head of the Bureau of European Policy Advisors at the European Commission in January 2007.

Before that, he was Director of the Research Department at the European Central Bank from September 1998 until December 2004. He was also Director of the Research and Statistics Department of the Banco de Portugal and Director of Economic Studies at the Portuguese Ministry of Finance.

Throughout his career, he has been associated with the European integration. He was alternate member of the Monetary Committee from 1989 to 1998 and representative of the Finance Minister in the Inter-Governmental Conference leading to the Maastricht Treaty. He was a member of the Group of Economic Policy Analysis at the European Commission from 2005 to 2006.

He has published several books and many articles in economic journals.

He holds a Doctorate degree in Economics from the University of Lisbon.