Senior Country Economist - Johannesburg, South Africa - World Bank Group

World Bank Group

Verified Company

Johannesburg, South Africa

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Thabo Mthembu

beBee Recruiter

Description

Job #:

- req27084
Organization:

IFC
Sector:
Economics
Grade:
GG
Term Duration:
3 years 0 months
Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment
Location:
Johannesburg,South Africa
Required Language(s):
English
Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date:

4/26/2024 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description

The IFC 3.0 strategy aims to stimulate more investment activity across emerging markets, especially in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Fragile and Conflict affected States (FCS).

Our goal is to create, deepen, and expand markets and design and develop impactful investment projects.

This strategy is, in part, premised on improved country/sector diagnostic, strategic, and public sector engagement capabilities, which seek to: 1) resolve obstacles to private sector growth via diagnostic and strategic work that informs both IFC operations and relevant IBRD/IDA policy operations; and 2) overcome the shortage of investable projects in priority markets by proactively improving the private sector ecosystem at the country and regional level.

The Country Advisory and Economics team for the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (CAEAE) supports the region through provision of country economic diagnostics, strategy, and engagement products as well as through direct support to operational teams and country units, in collaboration with economists throughout the World Bank Group.

Specifically, the team has four principal functions:

Producing both regional and countrylevel economic assessments to support IFC's strategy and operations.
Collaborating with regional and industry colleagues to produce analytical products such as Country Private Sector Diagnostics (CPSDs) and IFC Country Strategies.
Significantly contributing to WBG products such as Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD), Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDR), and IBRD/IDA lending operations; and
Putting IFC's country strategy and diagnostic recommendations into practice through Advisory projects that engage with governments, regulators, civil society, development partners and other relevant stakeholders to reform markets and sectors and address key bottlenecks to private sector development.

CAEAE is hiring a
Senior Country Economist to be based in Johannesburg, South Africa working closely with IFC country, industry, and upstream teams in select countries in the Southern Africa Region.

The Country Economist will report to the Country Advisory & Economics Manager in CAE.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Lead the monitoring of macroeconomic conditions and trends for countries in a designated IFC country cluster within the subregion, and advise the IFC Regional Director, Country Managers, and operational teams on its impact on IFC operations. Help identify macroeconomic risks to IFC investments and strategies to mitigate them.
Lead, review, coordinate macroeconomic analysis to support IFC investment operations including due diligence. Draft and peer review relevant sections of IFC Board papers including country context and strategic fit.
Provide intellectual and technical leadership on topics of economic or strategic relevance to IFC, and produce policy and technical notes, briefs, presentations, and country reports for as requested by country management.
Lead, contribute, and review Country Private Sector Diagnostics, Country Climate Development Reports, and provide IFC input to WBG Country Engagement products, including Country Partnership Frameworks, Progress and Learning Reviews and other joint initiatives.
Serve as liaison with local and HQ World Bank teams (esp. CMU, EFI), IMF, and other development partners on the ground as well as client governments to help ensure that IFC engagements are aligned with WBG strategies and government development strategies.
Lead the support for IFC Country Managers and teams in the country cluster to develop IFC country strategies/ strategy updates to help maximize IFC development impact.
Support the development of industry strategies in the region. Monitor and support the implementation of Country Private Sector Diagnostic recommendations, sectoral deep dives, and policy reform implementation.
Facilitate interaction and exchange of expertise and knowledge with the broader IFC Economics VPU and CAF Region. Lead on analytical work/ research on selected topics that inform IFC country programs and strategies as well overall PSD research agenda.
Mentor and support junior colleagues with technical and professional leadership.

Selection Criteria

Master's or Ph.

degree in economics/international development/ public policy or business/finance, with strong grounding in economics both from academic and practical experience perspective with a minimum of 10+ years (PhD with 7+ years) of relevant professional experience.