ECONOMY

AfDB: Algerian Rabah Arezki appointed chief economist, vice president

ALGIERS- The African Development Bank (AfDB) has appointed Algerian Dr. Rabah Arezki as Chief Economist/Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, from 1 October 2020, the pan-African institution said.

An Algerian national, Dr. Rabah Arezki is currently Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, a position he had held since 2017.

At the World Bank, he spearheaded the development of the Bank's "moonshot" approach to the Middle East and Africa, which aims to achieve full connectivity to the internet and digital payment.

"He has championed the agenda on fair competition and transparency of data in order to empower and unleash the potential of young people in the region," the African Development Bank said.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Arezki worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2006 to 2017.
He began his career at the IMF as an economist and was promoted to head of the Commodities and Environment Unit in the Research Department.

Dr. Arezki is a senior research fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (USA), an external research associate at the University of Oxford (UK), and a researcher at CESifo, an independent global research network.