Rashmi Shankar is the Practice Manager for the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation (FCI) Global Practice for Africa 1 (Central and West). Rashmi has broad operational and client experience across various regions of the Bank. Prior to this her most recent assignments were with the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice as Practice Manager for West Africa and as Lead Economist and Program Leader in ECA. She was also the Senior Country Economist for Azerbaijan and before that for Ecuador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

An American national, Rashmi is a macro-economist with publications across a range of topics including currency crises, growth, and trade policy. She has wide ranging operational experience across multiple regions at the Bank.  In her current role as practice manager, she will focus on delivering the strategic priorities for FCI in Africa Central and West.

Prior to joining the Bank Rashmi was an Asst. Professor at Brandeis University and consulted on various World Bank projects, mainly in LCR. Rashmi has a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.