Mehmet Şimşek Politician

Mehmet Şimşek (born 1 January 1967) is a Turkish economist who is the Minister of Finance of Turkey in the cabinet of re-elected former Prime Minister (now, President) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was elected to the Parliament in July 2007 and June 2011, representing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).Mehmet Şimşek was the Minister for Economic Affairs from August 2007 to April 2009. On May 1, 2009, he was appointed Minister of Finance. He is a member of the Justice and Development Party.Minister Şimşek has formulated fiscal policy which has helped Turkey recover strongly from the global financial crisis. He has also undertaken far reaching reforms founding the Tax Audit Board, simplifying tax regulations, enhancing taxpayers’ rights, and reducing the shadow economy.Şimşek earned his B.Sc. in Economics from Ankara University in 1988. After working as research assistant in the chair of international economics and economic development, he was awarded a state scholarship to the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, where he earned his M.Phil. in Finance and Investments in 1993.Şimşek previously worked as the chief economist and strategist for emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa region at Merrill Lynch in London for 7 years. At this time he had a number of contacts with the Turkish authorities and the Central Bank and had worked with the AK Party government on economic policy. He also served as senior economist and bank analyst for Deutsche-Bender Securities from 1998 to 2000. Mr Şimşek spent about a year in New York where he worked for UBS Securities in 1997. Prior to that, he was a senior economist at the US Embassy in Ankara for almost four years.Minister Şimşek, nominated as one of the 500 most powerful people on the planet by Foreign Policy in 2013 and also awarded as "Finance Minister of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013" by Emerging Markets magazine.Şimşek speaks English fluently and has both British and Turkish citizenships. He is married and has twin girls.