Ibrahim Chowdhury, a German national with Bangladeshi roots, is the Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Cairo office. 

As an expert in the macroeconomics and fiscal management global practice of the World Bank he leads the Bank’s work on economic policy analysis on Egypt. Dr. Chowdhury joined the World Bank in 2012 as a Senior Economist and Regional Credit Manager in the Credit Risk Department, where he was the country coordinator for a range of countries, with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa region. In this function, he was responsible for conducting macroeconomic assessments and projections for many middle income countries.

Dr. Chowdhury also worked with members of the Egypt and Iraq team, guiding them through challenging financing issues. During his time in the Credit Risk Department he led the Kenya creditworthiness assessment as a result of which Kenya was declared creditworthy for borrowing from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and he also spearheaded the Department’s efforts in the Zimbabwe arrears clearance process.  
Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Chowdhury spent three years at the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund. As an Advisor to the Executive Director of the Switzerland-led constituency he prepared policy and strategy positions on many global economic and financial issues.

Dr. Chowdhury also has central bank experience having spent half a decade at the Swiss National Bank in Zurich. Earlier in his career, he held the position of Assistant Professor at the economics department of the University of Cologne, Germany, and worked for Merrill Lynch in London. Dr. Chowdhury received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the Universities of Bonn and London, and a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Oxford. He has published a number of academic papers in peer-reviewed journals.