Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno was elected as the new head of the Eurogroup on Monday, with the key job of pushing through much-needed reforms across the single currency bloc.

The little-known economist and former central banker will replace outgoing Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem in January, and beat out his counterparts from Luxembourg, Slovakia and Latvia to win one of Europe's most coveted jobs.

"It was obviously a fair race and a very democratic one," the Harvard educated Centeno told a news conference after the vote. "It's an honour because of the relevance of this group ... the importance of the job."