Seminarium • oktober 18, 2009
Sub-Saharan Africa and the great recession
UF welcomes you to a presentation of the IMF’s African Regional Outlook. Due to the current global economic crisis, sub-Saharan Africa’s economic activity has slowed sharply, after a period of high economic growth. Join us, together with IMF and World Bank experts on African economic policy, as we discuss the situation on the ground and the prospects for future growth.
Guests:
Saul Lizondo, Deputy Director of the Africa Department, IMF
Abebe Aemro Selassie, Head of Regional Studies, Africa Department, IMF
Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist, World Bank Africa region
Day: Thursday, October 22
Time: 12.00 – 2.00 pm
Location: Room D8, Stockholm University
Entrance is free for UF members, 20 kr for non-members. Sandwiches and juice will be offered free of charge at the seminar (limited supply).
Presentations:
Saul Lizondo, a national of Argentina, is Deputy Director of the African Department of the International Monetary Fund. His responsibilities include overseeing the Department’s work on regional issues, and the operational work on a number of countries in the region. Prior to becoming Deputy Director, in July 2007, he was mission chief for South Africa. During his career at the Fund, he also held positions in the Research Department, Western Hemisphere Department, and Asia and Pacific Department. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Abebe Aemro Selassie, a national of Ethiopia, is Head of the Regional Studies Division, in the African Department of the International Monetary Fund with responsibility for the preparation of the Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa and research on African issues. From 2006 – 2009, he was based in Kampala, Uganda as the IMF’s Senior Resident Representative. Prior to that assignment, he served as a mission chief in the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department, heading the teams that negotiated lending programs with the Governments of Dominica and Grenada. Between 2003 and 2005, Mr. Selassie was based in the Policy, Development and Review Department working on low-income country policy issues. In this capacity, he contributed to revisions in the IMF’s modalities of engagement with its low-income members as well as policy design issues. Between 1994 and 2003, as an economist and senior economist, he was extensively involved in the IMF’s lending operations and policy dialogues with the Governments of Poland, Turkey, Thailand, Romania, Iran, and Estonia.
Shantayanan Devarajan is the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Africa Region. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, and of the South Asia Region. He was the director of the World Development Report 2004, Making Services Work for Poor People. Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
The author or co-author of over 100 publications, Mr. Devarajan’s research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries. Born in Sri Lanka, Mr. Devarajan received his B.A. in mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
