Hafez Ghanem

Hafez Ghanem

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute; Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South; Distinguished Fellow, FDL at the Paris School of Economics

Hafez Ghanem – who holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Davis – is Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a development expert with a large number of academic publications; and more than forty-year experience in policy analysis, project formulation and supervision, and management of multinational institutions. He has worked in over 40 countries in Africa, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and South East Asia. Between 2015 and 2022 he was Vice President of the World Bank, initially responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, then for Sub-Saharan Africa and then East and Southern Africa. In this latter capacity he was responsible for developing and implementing the World Bank’s strategy in the region, including a nearly $20 billion annual lending program and a large volume of analytical work and policy papers. During 2012-15 he was a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program of the Brookings Institution. His research focused on the Arab countries in transition: Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen. He continues his connection with Brookings as a Nonresident Senior Fellow. During the period 2007-12 he worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as the Assistant Director-General responsible for the Economic and Social Development Department. This Department, with more than 300 employees from all over the world, is responsible for FAO’s analytical work on agricultural economics and food security, trade and markets, gender and equity, and statistics. Prior to joining FAO, he spent twenty-four years on the staff of the World Bank where he started as a research economist and then senior economist in West Africa and later South Asia. In 1995, he moved to Europe and Central Asia where he was Sector Leader for Public Economics and Trade Policy. In 2000, he returned to Africa as Country Director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles. In 2004, he became Country Director for Nigeria where he led a multinational team of more than 100 professionals, managing the Bank’s loan portfolio of some USD 1.5 billion. He has many publications in professional journals and was a member of the core team that produced the 1995 World Development Report.

Areas of Interest:

  • Economic Development
  • Political Economy

Education:

  • Ph.D., Economics, University of California, 1983
  • M.A., Economics, American University in Cairo, 1980
  • B.A., Economics, American University in Cairo, 1978

Experience:

  • Vice President of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa, World Bank-Present
  • Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, Feb. 2012
  • Assistant Director General, Economic and Social Development, FAO, Nov.2007-Feb.2012
  • Country Director for Nigeria- Africa Region, World Bank, 2004-2007

Latest Publications:

  • “The Arab Spring Five Years Later: Toward Greater Inclusiveness” Volumes 1 and 2, (2016), Brookings Institution Press: Washington, D.C.
  • “Agriculture and Rural Development for Inclusive Growth and Food Security in Morocco” (20151) Global Economy Working Paper No. 74, The Brookings Institution: Washington, D.C.
  • “Arab Youth: Missing Educational Foundations for a Productive Life?” (2014) Center for Universal Education at Brookings, The Brookings Institution Washington, D.C. with Liesbet Steer and Maysa Jalbout.
  • “Improving Rural and Regional Development for Inclusive Growth in Egypt” (2014) Global Economy Working Paper No. 67, The Brookings Institution: Washington, D.C.
  • “Egypt’s Difficult Transition: Why the International Economy Must Stay Economically Engaged” (2014) Global Economy Working Paper No. 66, The Brookings Institution: Washington, D.C.
  • After the Spring: Economic Transitions in The Arab World (2012). Oxford University Press, New York. With Homi Kharas, Raj Desai and others.
Governance Reform to Achieve Social Justice and Inclusive Growth in Egypt: Building Inclusive Economic Institutions

Areas of Interest: Economic Development Political Economy Education: Ph.D., Economics, University of California, 1983 M.A., Economics, American University... Read More

November, 2014

Working Papers
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ERF 30th Annual Conference: Tragedies of Regional Conflicts and Promises of Peacebuilding

Areas of Interest: Economic Development Political Economy Education: Ph.D., Economics, University of California, 1983 M.A., Economics, American University... Read More

Apr 21, 2024

Annual Conferences
ERF 29th Annual Conference: The Future of MENA Development Path: Risks and Opportunities in an Emerging World Order

Areas of Interest: Economic Development Political Economy Education: Ph.D., Economics, University of California, 1983 M.A., Economics, American University... Read More

May 04, 2023

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