Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson (pronounced [ˈsɪːɣʏrðʏr ˈiŋgɪ ˈjouːhansɔn]; born 20 April 1962) is an Icelandic politician, who was the prime minister of Iceland from April 2016 to January 2017. He has been the chairman of the Progressive Party since 2016 and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs between April and December 2024, having previously served as Minister of Infrastructure.
Sigurður Ingi was appointed as the prime minister on 7 April 2016 following the resignation of Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson in the wake of revelations contained in the Panama Papers.[1][2][3] He was elected as chairman of the Progressive Party on 2 October that year, narrowly ahead of incumbent chairman Sigmundur Davíð.[4]
On 30 October 2016, due to the results of the parliamentary election held the previous day on 29 October 2016, Sigurður announced his pending resignation as Prime Minister.[5] He officially left office on 11 January 2017 and was succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson.
Biography
He grew up on a farm in Southern Iceland, trained as a veterinarian at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen and opened a veterinarian practice specializing on farm animals after returning home to Iceland. He was since elected as chairman of the Veterinarian Association of Iceland and also ran the family farm for a number of years.
In April 2022, he faced a mild controversy when he was accused for racism towards black people, with him apologising and refusing the allegations.[10][11]
