Imane Helmy

Senior Economist at World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice

Imane Helmy is a microeconomist and development practitioner with over ten years of work experience in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Currently, she is a Senior Economist at World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice. Prior to joining the bank, she was Associate Minister of Social Solidarity for Economic Affairs and Financial Inclusion. Her fields of interest include social protection, financial inclusion as well as poverty and inequality analysis. She worked as consultant for international organizations including the World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Policy Center for Inclusive Growth (IPC). She contributed to operational and analytical engagements related to targeting and evaluating the impact of cash transfers and economic inclusion programs, development of social registries, development of payment systems for shock-responsive safety nets, measuring poverty and inequality as well as assessing the welfare impacts of policies. Previously, she worked at UNDP on supporting different projects and flagship reports addressing poverty alleviation. Imane also served as research fellow at American University in Cairo and senior researcher at the German University in Cairo working on research projects related to Islamic microfinance and women empowerment. Imane holds a Ph.D. in Economics from German University in Cairo and a dual degree Master of Arts (M.A.) in Economics and Economics in International Development (ECID) from American University in Cairo. She received multiple excellence awards and research fellowships including a fellowship on “Economic Vulnerability in the Arab World” at University of Minnesota, Ahmed and Ann M. El-Mokadem Fellowship and Middle-East Award for Research in Development and Sustainability. She is also the first winner of “Youth Essay Competition on Unemployment” organized by the World Bank and the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in 2017.