Finance Minister of the Year 2010 - regional winners

A career civil servant, Charles Koffi Diby was appointed finance minister in April 2007, a month after the Ivorian warring parties signed a reconciliation agreement at Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. By 2009, his diligent and steadfast efforts to put the country's economy and budget back on track had started to pay dividends. The country cleared arrears to the World Bank, and qualified for debt relief under the multilateral Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative in December 2008.

This led to a $566m IMF loan package in March 2009, and the IMF praised "the authorities' new economic programme [which] provides the platform for strengthening the economic recovery and establishing the foundation for robust growth and higher living standards for the west African country's 19 million people."

The finance ministry followed up on the momentum to clinch a restructuring deal with the Paris Club in May 2009, which cancelled debts of $845m and rescheduled a further $3.845bn, making this by far the largest Paris Club deal of 2009. As is usual, the Paris Club requested comparable treatment from private sector creditors, and Côte d'Ivoire moved quickly to present a restructuring plan for about $3bn in outstanding commercial debt and overdue interest payments.

The tender to exchange debt held by so-called London Club major commercial creditors was launched in September 2009, and widely welcomed by investors. In addition to bringing the country out of default, it will also rationalise three different types of bond in two different currencies, into a single, dollar-denominated 23-year bond. This will be the largest Eurobond in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa), making it easier to trade and putting Côte d'Ivoire firmly back on the map for international investment.

Luis Carranza, finance minister, Peru

Finance Minister of the Year, Americas

Luis Carranza, Peru

Peru is set to be the fastest growing economy in Latin America. A track record of economic reforms and good public finances during finance minister Luis Carranza's first term of office from July 2006 to July 2008 - during which time his main objectives were to curb price rises and contain public spending - gave Mr Carranza a strong base on which to build when he returned to the finance ministry in January 2009. However, that return to office took place just as the global financial crisis was reaching its peak, putting his policy skills to the test almost immediately.

Mr Carranza's fiscal stimulus and social expenditures contributed to contain the economic slowdown. Additional public investment was made possible thanks to the budget surplus achieved between 2005 and 2008 of 3% per year, while the central bank accumulated a $16bn flow of international reserves, a figure that represents 13% of gross domestic product.

Chief economist for Latin America at Banco BBVA before he was first appointed finance minister in 2006, Mr Carranza's credentials have contributed to the maintaining of investor confidence. The yields on Peruvian bonds have stayed close to those of Mexico and Brazil throughout the year - and at times even below - and have remained, by and large, below 10%. These results are all the more impressive when the heightened apprehension and risk-aversion characterising financial markets are taken into consideration, as well as Peru's lower sovereign credit ratings.

The strong pipeline of foreign direct investment projects generated in the past year, which totals $36bn between 2009 and 2011, presents promising growth prospects. IMF forecasts GDP growth of 1.5% in 2009, in a year when all the other major economies of Latin America are set to contract.

Future growth prospects are also provided by the country's commitment to close its large infrastructure gap through a series of public-private partnerships, for a total of $38bn. The finance minister is expected to give the go ahead for nearly $14bn in transportation links such as railroad lines, roads, airports and ports, $8.3bn in electricity generation, $6.3bn in drinking water and wastewater treatment, $3.7bn in natural gas, and $5.4bn in telecommunications.

Jacek Rotowski, finance minister, Poland

Finance Minister of the Year, Europe

Jacek Rostowski, Poland

In terms of economic performance, Poland in 2009 is hard to beat in the European context. It was the only EU country to record positive gross domestic product growth for the year as a whole, at about 1.4% according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Continued investment inflows have played a part in this performance, and finance minister Jacek Rostowski's calm and astute handling of the global financial crisis helped to sustain investor confidence. He grasped ahead of other governments in central and eastern Europe the significance of the International Monetary Fund's new fast-track flexible credit line (FCL). With Poland already meeting the FCL's pre-set qualification criteria of a strong fiscal policy framework, Mr Rostowski understood and advocated its adoption as a precautionary market reassurance, rather than a bail-out.

Sure enough, the $20.6bn FCL for Poland approved by the IMF in May 2009 helped to stabilise Polish assets and the zloty exchange rate, minimising further fall-out from global volatility. And by the end of 2009, the credit line remained entirely undrawn, as per Mr Rostowski's original stated intention.

The strength of Poland's policy framework itself stems partly from Mr Rostowski's overhaul of its previously vague approach to entering the eurozone. An arbitrary target of joining by 2012, without a clear strategy to attain the target, is to be replaced by policies specifically aimed at achieving the Maastricht entry criteria on the budget deficit and debt level.

Of course, the financial crisis has delayed a more concerted attempt at fiscal consolidation, with the budget deficit set to reach at least 6% of GDP in 2009. But Mr Rostowski already has forceful plans to correct the deficit, including an ambitious privatisation programme. He personally participated in investor roadshows for one of the state assets on that list, the power company PGE, and the outcome of its initial public offering (IPO) is very positive for hitting privatisation revenue targets. The sale brought in $2.1bn, pricing at the top end of the bankers' guidance range, and becoming Europe's largest IPO of the year.

Youssef Boutros-Ghali, finance minister, Egypt

Finance Minister of the Year, Middle East

Youssef Boutros-Ghali, Egypt

Egypt's steady navigation through the worst of the financial crisis is in no small part due to the actions of the country's finance minister, Youssef Boutros-Ghali. He has managed to keep government finances under control despite difficult economic conditions and has won praise from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and credit rating agencies for his handling of the country's budget deficit.

Egypt's financial reforms from 2004 to the present day have helped to reduce fiscal and monetary vulnerabilities and steer Egypt's economy successfully through the economic crisis. Mr Boutros-Ghali's fiscal policy actions helped cushion the impact of the global slowdown on economic activity in Egypt, in particular the government's additional infrastructure expenditure, which has helped to support economic activity. Egypt can afford to spend its way through recession and keep within its targeted budget deficit of 6.9% due to revenue measures adopted before the crisis. The finance minister has also been careful in his budget execution.

As a result of this sound management of the economy, Egypt's economic performance has been impressive. The IMF expects gross domestic product (GDP) growth to hit 4.5% in 2009, well below 2008's figure of 7%, but well above many of the country's peers in the Middle East and north Africa. It is a particularly impressive figure given the economic difficulties brought on by the global slowdown. Looking ahead, times will continue to be tough.

The IMF expects the current account to shift into a deficit of about 2% of GDP in 2010, driven by weaker exports, remittances, Suez canal traffic and tourism receipts.

However, following the sharp reversal of portfolio flows between August to October, the financial situation has largely stabilised and, in recent months, the stock market has begun to recover ground lost in late 2008 and early 2009.

In August 2009, ratings agency Moody's returned the outlook on Egypt's sovereign ratings to stable, a year after placing the government on negative outlook. The agency acknowledged that the government's efforts to contain fiscal pressures and the resilience of the Egyptian economy had surpassed original expectations.