Paloma Anós Casero, a Spanish national, is an economist with over twenty years of professional experience. Paloma joined the World Bank in 2001 as a Young Professional. She has since held various managerial positions in several technical departments across four regions (Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa). Paloma’s current assignment is Director in the Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice. Prior to joining the World Bank, Paloma worked for the United Nations Development Program, the European Commission, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Paloma holds Masters Degrees on Economics and Public Policy from the London School of Economics (LSE, London); International Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Brussels); and Macroeconomics and Finance from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE, Madrid). She speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.

As Director in the Macroeconomics Trade and Investment Global Practice (2016-current), Paloma oversaw over 180 staff. She was the World Bank global director responsible for debt issues, and regional director for economic policy in Latin America, Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. She oversaw a team of over 180 staff. Key highlights: delivery of joint World Bank-IMF Debt work program, World Bank guidelines on Fiscal Risks of Public-Private Partnerships, World Bank Energy Subsidy Reform Assessment Framework, World Bank Change of Wealth Report, winning the World Bank President’s Excellence Award; and delivery of high visible development policy financing operations in Argentina ($0.5bn), Colombia ($0.7bn), Ethiopia ($1bn), Jordan ($1bn), Iraq ($1bn).

As Sector Manager for Finance and Private Sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (2012-2016), Paloma oversaw over 40 staff, and the delivery of US$2bn lending program, operational budget of US$10 million, and US$50 million in external funding. Key achievements: reimbursable technical assistance programs to improve the investment climate, entrepreneurship and innovation- in Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Kazakhstan; delivery of 18 lending operations to support finance and private sector development; innovative research on Big Data Analytics combining satellite, household, and product market datasets, winning the World Bank President’s Award on Big Data Challenge. Paloma also won the World Bank Excellence in Leadership Award.

As Lead Economist and Sector Leader in Mexico and Colombia, based in Mexico DF (2010-2012), Paloma oversaw over US3bn in lending commitments and operational budget of US$4 million. Key achievements: delivery of reimbursable technical assistance programs to manage commodity price volatility; subnational lending programs for improved subnational fiscal management and service delivery; development policy operations on Fiscal Risk Management, and on inclusive Fiscal Policy; and high visible Mexico Policy Notes, laying out priority policy reforms. Paloma also led regional papers on countercyclical fiscal policy and macro-financial vulnerability in Latin America. As Senior Economist for Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Russia, Tunisia (2005-2010) Paloma oversaw US$2 billion in lending commitments and led several sources of growth studies, and public expenditure reviews.

Paloma authored research papers: “Estimating Argentina’s Fiscal multipliers”, “Argentina Trade Patterns and Challenges”, “What Drives Firm Productivity Growth?”, “Growth, Private Investment and the Cost of Doing Business in Tunisia”, “Fiscal and social impact of a nominal exchange rate devaluation in Djibouti”, “Public-private sector wage differentials and returns to education in Djibouti". Paloma also authored high-profile publications, including: World Bank Flagship Report on Productivity Growth in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; World Bank Flagship Report on Governance and Development in the Middle East and North Africa; World Bank Regional Report “Is there a New Vision for Maghreb Economic Integration?”.