| Anders Borg | |
|---|---|
| Anders Borg at a press briefing at the Ministry of Finance, Stockholm, 20 May 2010. | |
| Minister for Finance | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 6 October 2006 |
|
| Prime Minister | Fredrik Reinfeldt |
| Preceded by | Pär Nuder |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 January 1968 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Political party | Moderate Party |
| Alma mater | Uppsala University, Stockholm University |
| Occupation | Economist |
| Religion | Christianity [1] |
Anders Erik Borg (born 11 January 1968) is a Swedish economist and politician, currently serving as Minister for Finance in the Swedish government. He is a member of the Moderate Party.
Contents |
Borg was born in Stockholm but grew up in Norrköping, Östergötland County. He became a member of the Moderate Youth League in the upper secondary school in Norrköping. From 1988 to 1991 he studied political science, economic history, and philosophy at Uppsala University. He also attended Stockholm University from 1995 to 1997, where his studies in economics included participation in graduate level courses despite the fact that he had not completed a bachelor degree. He has yet to earn an academic degree.
During his period at Uppsala University, Borg was chairman of the Uppsala Student Union as well as the conservative Heimdal Association (Swedish: Föreningen Heimdal). From 1990 to 1991 he was vice chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students (Swedish: Fria moderata studentförbundet). In his youth, Borg was a libertarian and advocate of drug legalization.[2] He has admitted to smoking cannabis in his youth.[3]
From 1990 to 1991 Borg was an editorial writer for the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. Following the centre-right parties' victory in the 1991 general election, Borg became a Political Adviser at the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for coordination of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Public Administration, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Science. From 1993 to 1994 he served as a Political Adviser to Prime Minister Carl Bildt.
Following the defeat in the 1994 general election, Borg worked in the private Bank sector. From 1995 to 1998 he worked at the company Transferator Alfred Berg as responsible for economic and political analysis. From 1998 to 1999 he was Chief Economist at ABN Amro Bank in Stockholm and from 1999 to 2001 he was Head of the Economic Analysis Department at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) in Stockholm. From 2001 to 2002 he served as an Adviser on monetary policy issues to the Executive Board of the Riksbank (the Swedish central bank). He was recruited as Chief Economist of the Moderate Party in 2003 by Bo Lundgren and stayed in the team of the newly elected party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt. He also served as a Member of the Board of the Swedish Labour Market Administration (Swedish: Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen) from 2005 to 2006.
Following the victory in the 2006 general election, Borg was appointed Minister for Finance in the new centre-right cabinet led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, that assumed office on 6 October 2006.
Borg has been recognised as the mastermind behind the new Swedish government's economical doctrine, focusing on proactive measures against unemployment. An incremental dismantling of the social democratic welfare state, with larger self-financing of welfare systems, lower taxes and fewer benefits are seen as the way to create new motivation to work and more business opportunites and creation of jobs. He developed these new policies in his role as chief economist in the Moderate Party.
On 5 September 2007, Minister for Defence Mikael Odenberg resigned from the cabinet due to disagreement with Borg regarding funds for the Swedish Armed Forces.[4]
On 29 November 2008, Borg, in an interview on Swedish TV4, criticized US President-elect Barack Obama's economic agenda calling it "untenable".[5]
Borg is married to Susanna "Sanna" Borg (née Ölander), with whom he has three children. He lives with his family in Bie, Katrineholm Municipality, Södermanland County.
Unlike most of the Moderate Party members of the cabinet, Borg is a self-described feminist.[6]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Pär Nuder |
Minister for Finance 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
|
||||||||