Raya Haffar El Hassan
Raya El Hassan is a Lebanese politician who held the office of the interior and municipalities ministry, and the finance ministry. She is the first woman in Lebanon to be appointed to these and equivalent posts in the government.
Early life and education
El Hassan was born in January 1967 into a Sunni family. She received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the American University of Beirut in June 1987. She then obtained a Master of Business Administration in finance in investments from George Washington University in 1990.Career
Early in her career, El Hassan worked with Méditerranée Investors Group. She then served as an advisor to the Minister of Economy and Trade and later worked as a member of the Office of the Prime Minister, leading different projects and supervising expenditure management reforms. Subsequently, El Hassan also worked on reforms, elaborating economic and social reform agendas, for the Prime Minister's office.Prior to her appointment as Finance Minister, she also worked on other administrating programmes under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.