About

Wolfgang Fengler is the World Bank’s Lead Economist in the Nairobi office of the World Bank where he covers Kenya, Rwanda, Eritrea, and Somalia.

A native German, Wolfgang has been a staff member of the World Bank for 12 years, during which he lived in three continents: First in America working at the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington DC, then in Asia as a Senior Economist in the Indonesia office and now in Kenya, which hosts the World Bank’s largest office in Africa. Wolfgang has published extensively including on issues covering structural adjustment, public finance, and the global aid architecture.

In 2010, he co-edited “Delivering Aid Differently,” a Brookings publication together with Homi Kharas. With his Nairobi-based team, he also launched the Kenya Economic Update, the World bank’s most circulated publication in Africa. Together with Marcelo Giugale, Wolfgang also hosts the “Economics for Everyone – Development Discourse…” column in Kenya’s Saturday Nation.

Prior to joining the World Bank, he set up Africa Consulting, LLC, and was a Fellow at the Research Institute for International Relations. Wolfgang gained a PhD in political economy from the University of Hamburg (Germany). Wolfgang loves sports and is the “Football commissioner” at the International School of Kenya where he organizes one of the largest kids’ sports events in Kenya of its kind, the “Nairobi Mini World Cup.”