Driven by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 global pandemic, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to fall to -3.3 percent in 2020, pushing the region into its first recession in 25 years, according to the latest regional economic analysis Africa’s Pulse: Charting the Road to Recovery. The pandemic could also drive up to 40 million people into extreme poverty in Africa in 2020, erasing at least five years of progress in fighting poverty.
At this seminar, Cesar Calderon, Lead Economist, Office of Chief Economist for Africa Region, World Bank, presented the main findings of the latest edition of “Africa’s Pulse” report.
Date/Time:
8am-9am, Friday November 6, 2020 (Japan Standard Time)
Speaker
 Lead Economist, Office of Chief Economist for Africa Region César Calderón, a Peruvian national, is a Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist of the Africa Region (AFRCE). He holds a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Rochester, New York. He joined the Bank in 2005 and had worked at the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Chief Economist Office (LCRCE), the FPD Chief Economist Office (FPDCE) and the World Development Report (DECWD). He was a core team member of the 2013 Global Financial Development Report “Rethinking the Role of the State in Finance” and the 2014 World Development Report “Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development” (Chapter on macroeconomic risk management). Since 2014, he has been a core team member of the “Africa’s Pulse,” regional flagship on recent macroeconomic developments in Sub-Saharan Africa. He also has been a task team leader of AFRCE regional research projects, such as “Africa’s Macroeconomic Vulnerabilities” and “Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Cesar has worked on issues of open economy macroeconomics, growth and development—especially, the growth impact of infrastructure development and outward-oriented strategies. He is currently working on issues of dynamics of capital flows and their link to boom-bust cycles in finance, trade diversification and growth, and policy determinants of macroeconomic resilienc |
Presentation materials: Africa’s Pulse: Charting the Road to Recovery (PDF)