Xavier Debrun

Xavier Debrun is an advisor in the Research Department of the National Bank of Belgium. He studied economics at the University of Namur and the Graduate Institute in Geneva where he obtained a Ph.D. in International Economics. Xavier spent most of his 20-year professional career in the Fiscal Affairs and Research Departments of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2006-07, he was a visiting Fellow at Bruegel and a visiting professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. He has regularly taught in academic institutions, including the University of Geneva, the University of Clermont-Auvergne and the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). His research interests include international policy coordination, the economics of currency unions, and macro-fiscal issues, including debt sustainability assessments and the stabilizing role of fiscal policy. His work has been disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, IMF flagship reports, and conference volumes. He led many technical assistance missions for the IMF in relation to the design and operation of fiscal policy rules, macro-fiscal forecasting, and the introduction of independent fiscal institutions.