Peter Praet (born 20 January 1949 in Herchen near Eitorf, Germany) is a Belgian economist. He graduated from Université libre de Bruxelles, with a BA in Economics, a MA in Economics in 1972, and PhD in Economics in 1980. He was chief economist for Fortis Bank and Executive Director of the National Bank of Belgium from 2000 to 2011.

The 3 of January of 2012 was announced that he will become the Chief Economist of the European Central Bank replacing the German Jürgen Stark, who left office in late 2011.