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Peter Kusek


Peter leads the team of the Applied Research Program on Investment in the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank. His team produces new research on foreign investment, develops analytical tools assessing investment climates, and implements novel diagnostic approaches for economic policy reforms in developing countries. With more than 15 years of experience specializing in foreign direct investment and private sector development, Peter has advised more than 40 governments across the world on investment climate reforms.

Peter is the managing author of several flagship publications, including the Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 and the Investing Across Borders global database. They are among the most downloaded World Bank Group reports on investment and trade. Peter’s publications have been cited in The Economist, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Guardian, and US News and World Report. Peter is a frequent presenter at international conferences, including the G20, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), World Trade Organization (WTO), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Investment Competitiveness Forum, Energy Charter Treaty Conference, and other organizations.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Peter worked on microfinance and small-enterprise development at BRAC Bangladesh, on microcredit at FINCA Tanzania, and on privatization and other structural reforms at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. He was also program manager at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based foreign and security policy think tank, where his program brought together global business and government leaders to accelerate the pace of economic reforms in Central and Eastern Europe.

Peter holds a master’s degree in economic policy and international development from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of the South. Peter is a native of Slovakia and currently resides in Washington D.C. with his family.