Naci Ağbal was born on 1 January 1968 in Bayburt and graduated from Istanbul University's Faculty of Political Education in 1989.[1] He began his career in the same year by entering the Inspection Board, later becoming a finance inspector in 1993. In 2003, he became a department manager at the General Directorate of Revenues and became the General Director of Budget and Financial Control in 2007.[2] In October 2008, he was elected by the Cabinet of Turkey to the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), having been a Board of Trustees member of Ahmet Yesevi University since 8 March 2008. On 12 June 2009, he became the undersecretary to the Ministry of Finance.[3]
After the AKP won a parliamentary majority in the November 2015 election, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu appointed Ağbal as Finance Minister in his new government on 24 November 2015. Ağbal replaced Mehmet Şimşek, who was appointed as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey having served as Finance Minister since 2009. In his first statement since being appointed as Minister, Ağbal claimed that the Turkish economy was entering a new 'reform' period and that the government would never stray from the principles of financial discipline. He stressed the need for creating a strong financial infrastructure in order to advance economic growth. Outgoing Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek praised his successor for his previous work as Undersecretary, with both committing their economic program to one of fiscal conservatism during their terms in government.[8]
Governor of the Turkish Central Bank
On 7 November 2020, he was appointed the Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, replacing Murat Uysal, who was unable to stop the fall of the Turkish lira,[9] which had lost more than 40% against the Dollar since January 2020.[10] He was sacked by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 20 March 2021.[11]