About

Peter Harrold, a national of the United Kingdom, became Country Director for Central Europe and the Baltic Countries in January 2010. Based in Brussels, Mr. Harrold’s position also covers operations in World Bank country offices in: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia.

Until December 2009, Mr. Harrold was the Director of Operations Services in the Operations Policy and Country Services Vice-Presidency where he was in charge of policies governing all investment lending for the World Bank.

Mr. Harrold joined the World Bank in 1981 as a Young Professional. During his tenure at the Bank his work has spanned the globe in assignments based in the Caribbean, China, throughout West Africa, Sri Lanka and now in Central Europe.

Between 1982 and 1986 he was Country Economist for Jamaica, leading the Bank’s economic work and adjustment operations. For the next seven years he had successful assignments as Senior Economist, Resident Senior Economist and Principal Economist for China where he was responsible for the economic work program and major advice on economic reform issues, including the formulation of “soft-landing” anti-inflation program in 1993.

Between 1993 and 1996, as Economic Advisor in the Africa Technical Department, Mr. Harrold  was, among others, responsible for guiding the Africa Region’s work on public expenditure and sector-wide approaches, in particular in the education and health sectors.  In 1996 he was appointed Manager for the Macroeconomics Group for West Africa, covering Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guinea, The Gambia, Mauritania, Sao Tome/Principe, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Liberia.

In 1997 he was appointed Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone and in 2002 he became Country Director for Sri Lanka. In his capacity as Country Director, Mr. Harrold  was known for his innovative approaches to partnerships, and for his leadership during conflict situations and crises, first as Sierra Leone began to emerge from one of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa, and then as Sri Lanka first attempted a peace process in its long civil war and then was hit by the devastating Tsunami at the end of 2004.  Sierra Leone saw the first Bank attempt to support demobilization and reintegration, while Sri Lanka saw the first program to resettle citizens displaced by internal conflict.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Harrold was the Economic Assistant/Senior Economic Assistant in the United Kingdom Ministry of Overseas Development, and then Chief Economist of the Government of the Republic of Seychelles.

Mr. Harrold  holds a Master’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Manchester.