World Bank names Shubham Chaudhuri new Country Director for Nigeria

The World Bank Group has appointed Shubham Chaudhuri as its new country director for Nigeria.

Chaudhuri will be succeeding Rachid Benmessaoud who completed his tenure recently, a statement by the bank said.

Chaudhuri’s new position would require that he leads the strategic  dialogue with government, development partners and other stakeholders.

He would also develop and implement the new country partnership framework, and provide customized solutions and policy advice to Nigeria.

Chaudhuri joined the World Bank in 2004 and has held several leadership positions at the bank, his most recent being the Country Director for Afghanistan.

Chaudhuri had been Practice Manager in the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice for the South Asia Region. He also held the position of manager of the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department for East Asia and the Pacific and Lead Economist for Indonesia.

As a lead economist for Indonesia, Chaudhuri was responsible for leading the overall economic policy dialogue, advisory and development policy lending work in Indonesia.

He also managed the Jakarta-based economic team, which works closely with partners in government and in the development community to further Indonesia’s development agenda.

Prior to Chaudhuri joining the bank, he had spent a decade as an Economics professor and Director of the Programme in Economic and Political Development at Columbia University in New York.

The new country director has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University and a Ph.D, also in Economics, from Princeton University.