Launch: Bosnia and Herzegovina Country Economic Memorandum

Ivailo is the Chief Economist for the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region. Since joining the World Bank in 2005 as a Senior Country Economist for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management sector Unit, he has held several positions including Lead Economist and Practice Manager in Europe and Central Asia and Practice Manager for the Global Macro, Growth and Debt unit in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice. Ivailo is one of the coauthors of Diversified Development: Making the Most of Natural Resources in Eurasia. He has worked on countries across Europe, Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and Africa at the World Bank, the Institute of International Finance, and the IMF. Ivailo holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

Jasmin is Practice Manager in the World Bank’s Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice, leading the team of economists working on the EU countries, the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. As a development economist with 20 years of experience, Jasmin has led World Bank studies on fiscal policy, trade, and growth, as well as lending operations in East Asia, West Africa, Latin America and Europe. She holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (UK) and Johns Hopkins University (USA).

Christopher has been the World Bank Country Manager for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro since 2021. Prior to this role, he was the Practice Manager with the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, where  he was responsible for the unit’s operations in all six regions of the World Bank and the global trust funded programs. Christopher joined the World Bank in 1999 and worked on diverse sector issues including legal and fiscal policy, private sector investment, environmental sustainability, community development, transparency and governance.

Before joining the World Bank, Christopher had a 10-year career in the private sector working for an international mining company in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines and as a chartered accountant in his home of Sydney, Australia. He holds an MBA from the University of Newcastle, is an Australian Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University.

Manuela has been Head of Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) since August 2019. She has over fifteen years’ experience in development banking with a focus on the infrastructure and energy sectors. Previously, Manuela was based in London, holding positions as Associate Director Policy & Partnerships, Advisor to the VP and Principal Banker in the Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure Business Group. In these roles she worked on project finance and public sector loans in Egypt, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia and coordinated the EBRD's €900 million refugee response plan, with investments in Jordan, Türkiye and Lebanon. She also led strategic policy reform engagements with governments in the region and established new donor partnerships.  Manuela started her career as economist for the British Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and later on worked at the World Bank’s South Asia Energy Department. A German national, she holds a Master’s in International Economics and an MBA from London Business School.

Tihomir is the World Bank's Senior Country Economist for Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in Washington, DC. In his current capacity, he serves as the co-task team leader for the BiH Country Economic Memorandum and the BiH Health Sectors Development Policy Loans, while also conducting macroeconomic monitoring. Simultaneously, Tihomir led the team for the Kosovo Public Expenditure Review, focusing on analyzing fiscal policy challenges.   With over a decade at the World Bank, Tihomir's journey began in the Global Macro and Debt unit and the corporate International Development Association (IDA) unit. He later specialized in the Eastern Africa region, serving as the senior country economist for Uganda and Eritrea. In these roles, he focused on development policy loan operations, macro monitoring and conducted analytical research. Tihomir's extensive professional background spans macro, fiscal, and debt topics, with an emphasis on economic growth, fiscal policy and risks, debt management strategies, public debt sustainability, and macroeconomic vulnerabilities. His contributions to the field include the publication of over 50 papers. Before joining the World Bank, Tihomir held positions at the Institute of International Finance, where he was responsible for Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania, the IMF, and the Croatian Central Bank. 

Sandra is a Senior Economist in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice, based in the World Bank Country Office in Sarajevo. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was the Coordinator for Economic Modelling and Forecasting at the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sandra has also worked as a Budget Advisor in the Democracy Department of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and as a Term-Appointed Faculty Member at the University of Maryland campus in Europe, teaching statistics. Sandra holds a PhD in Economics from the Staffordshire University, UK and Postdoc training under the Fulbright Visitor Scholarship Program from the University of Logan, Utah and Duke University in the United States. Her research has mainly focused on the external sector of the economy and macroeconomic modeling. 

Dzenan Malovic is a Senior Energy Specialist at the World Bank with 18 years of experience as an energy sector professional working on areas including the water-energy nexus, RE technologies, power generation, power system planning, energy sector transition and reforms, grid integration of VREs, and power markets. Since joining the World Bank Group in 2011, Dzenan was exposed to a combination of diverse engagements on advisory, technical assistance, lending, and public-private partnership projects across the World Bank Group, with main responsibilities including business development focused on mobilizing clean energy investments, managing complex market-level tasks and activities with individual project sponsors and power sector utilities, and supporting the policy dialog on strategic energy sector issues. Dzenan holds an electrical engineering degree from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria. 

Dr. Admir Softic is an Assistant Minister for the Energy Sector in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Ministers. He oversees the energy sector, taking care of administrative settlement, normative and legal affairs, documentation and informational affairs in the energy field, natural resources management and concessions. From February 2015 to July 2016, he served as Assistant Minister for the Natural Resources, Energy, and Environment Protection Sector. Admir has over 22 years of scientific and professional experience in energy, energy policy, mining, power system modelling, simulation, analysis, and planning. He has gained experience in solving complex energy problems, including energy strategies, studies and projects in energy efficiency, spatial planning, municipal energy, modelling and balancing energy-producing processes and promotion of renewables. Admir has intensive experience in knowledge management and networking in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans. He participated as a lead project manager or coordinator in several EU development projects. He is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Civil Engineering, University of Tuzla. He is the author of 3 university textbooks and more than 30 papers.