While at IEG, Dr. Kouamé oversaw independent evaluations in economic management and country programs as well as independent evaluations in human development and corporate evaluations.

Prior to this position, Dr. Kouame was the Practice Manager for the Middle East and North America in the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice of the World Bank. He had previously been the Practice Manager for the Latin America and the Caribbean countries in the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice. He has held the positions of Sector Manager in the Economic Policy Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region (October 2011), Lead Economist and Sector Leader in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit (October 2009), Lead Economist and acting Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region (June 2008). From 2005 to 2008, he held the position of Assistant to the Bank President.

Prior to this corporate level assignment, Dr. Kouamé was the World Bank’s representative in Haiti, and Senior Country Economist for three countries in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. He had previously worked in the MENA Region as Senior Country Economist for Tunisia and was a member of the World Bank research department’s team that prepared the 1998/99 World Development Report on Knowledge for Development.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Kouamé worked at the United Nations Development Program and taught Applied Economics in Côte d’Ivoire and France. Dr. Kouamé completed graduate studies at the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique in Paris and holds a PhD in Economics (on the subject of Endogenous Growth) from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and the DELTA research center (now Paris School of Economics).