| Lou Jiwei | |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-Hans |
| Office: | Chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund |
| Term Start: | November 2016 |
| Term End: | April 2019 |
| Predecessor: | Xie Xuren |
| Successor: | Liu Wei |
| Premier: | Li Keqiang |
| Office1: | Minister of Finance |
| Premier1: | Li Keqiang |
| Term Start1: | 16 March 2013 |
| Term End1: | 7 November 2016 |
| Predecessor1: | Xie Xuren |
| Successor1: | Xiao Jie |
| Birth Place: | Yiwu, Zhejiang |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Party: | Chinese Communist Party |
Lou Jiwei (; born December 1950), is a Chinese politician, and current director of the 13th CPPCC Foreign Affairs Committee.[1] Lou was Chairman of China's National Council for Social Security Fund, Minister for Finance, Chairman of China Investment Corporation and Central Huijin Investment, Vice Minister of Finance of China and Vice-Governor of Guizhou.
Lou Jiwei was born in December 1950, is from Yiwu, Zhejiang, and holds a master's degree in economics. He started working in February 1968, joined the Chinese Communist Party in January 1973, and graduated from the Institute of Quantitative and Technological Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences with a major in economic system analysis in December 1984.[2] He is considered outspoken.
In 2013, President Xi Jinping called for the creation of state-owned investment companies to invest in key industries such as civil aviation, energy, mineral resources, nuclear power, and logistics.[3] As Finance Minister, and with prior sovereign fund experience as the chair of China Investment Corporation and its former CEO, Lou was tasked with developing this proposal and served as lead author for the State Council's "Opinions on Reforming and Improving the State-Owned Assets Management System."
Lou is a member of the 16th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, alternate member of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, member of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, representative of the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, and standing member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.
On 11 December 2021, at a forum held by the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing, Lou criticized the main economic indicators as insufficiently reflecting major economic problems, implying that recently released official warnings about economic pressures facing the country could not be explained by the indicators. In further support of his point, he mentioned his belief that among the 150 million economic entities registered as of 1 Novemberan increase by a half compared to a decade earlier, at least 40 million were not active.[5]
In 2008, Time magazine considered Lou to be one of the 100 most influential people in the world.[6] Forbes Magazine considered him to be the 30th most powerful person in the world, according to their "Powerful People 2010" list.[7] In 2011 he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of Bloomberg Markets magazine. Lou was listed as twelfth on aiCIO's 2012 list of the 100 most influential institutional investors worldwide.[8]