By the seasoned standards of the world’s finance ministers, Georgia’s Nodar Khaduri, aged 43 and just over a year in the slot, is a relative babe in arms.
Take Euromoney’s last five finance ministers of the year. Our 2008 winner, China’s Xi Xuren, was the oldest, at 61, while, at 51, the 2010 winner, Alexei Kudrin of Russia, was the youngest. Last year’s winner, Singapore’s Tharman Shanmugaratnam, is 56. Globally, the IMF boss, Christine Lagarde, is 57, while 54-year-old Jim Yong Kim runs the World Bank.
The average age of these recent award recipients is an experienced 58, which is arguably part of the reason they warranted our prestigious gong – their vintage suggesting they know their way around the fiscal and political block.
Age is not an issue for Khaduri. "I have a long history of public service," he tells Euromoney during an interview in his ministerial office in Tbilisi.
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| Georgia's finance minister, Nodar Khaduri |
By the urgent measure of Georgia’s newly elected government, Khaduri is virtually a grandee. His prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, is a fresh-faced 31 year old.