Economist Job #: req34586 Organization: World Bank Sector: Economics Grade: GF Term Duration:ย 3 years 0 months Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment Location: Libreville,Gabon Required Language(s): French, English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 10/26/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of fiveย institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.ย For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region
We need the best and brightest talent focused on Sub-Saharan African countries in order to harness the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Africa is a continent on the move, with a young population and a growing market of nearly 1.2bn people. We are committed to making the Africa regional teams leading innovation hubs.
Yet, these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which result in Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated human capital potential. Moreover, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades.
In West and Central Africa, the World Bank is a leading partner with a growing portfolio of 350 projects totaling more than US$38 billion in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water and sanitation โ all to support job creation, gender equality, poverty reduction, and better lives. Across the continent, the World Bankโs program has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By 2030, about 87% of the worldโs extreme poor are projected to live in Sub-Saharan Africa, so this is where our mission to end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity will be achieved.
Are you ready to make an impact? We are looking for dedicated professionals to join our innovative and diverse team to improve peopleโs lives and help countries foster inclusive and sustainable growth.ย
https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/western-and-central-africa
Gabon
Located in Central Africa, Gabon has substantial natural resources. Gabon has one of the highest urbanization rates in Africa, with more than 80% of its population living in urban areas. Despite its extensive area, largely forested, Gabon has a relatively small population of approximately 2.3 million as of 2023. Libreville and Port-Gentil, the two largest cities, are home to nearly 59% of the population. Youthfulness is a defining demographic characteristic: half the population is under 20 years old, and fertility rates are significantly higher in rural areas (six children per woman) compared to urban areas (four children per woman). A pioneer in ecological protection, Gabon actively works to preserve its tropical forest, making it a net carbon absorber. The country champions carbon neutrality initiatives. Its diverse ecosystem provides fertile soils, abundant coastal resources, and fisheries. However, despite its economic potential, Gabon struggles to translate resource wealth into sustainable and inclusive growth.
Since the August 2023 coup, Gabon has experienced changes in economic policies. Key changes include the adoption of more expansionary fiscal policies, increased efforts to support business and job creation across various sectors, and improvements in the quality and accessibility of infrastructure and public services. Gabonโs economic growth is expected to remain positive but moderate over the coming years due to the gradual depletion of oil reserves, anticipated from 2025 onwards. However, sectors such as timber, palm oil and rubber plantations, and iron oreโfollowing the recent start of production at the Belinga iron ore mine in 2024โare expected to play key roles in future growth. Nevertheless, significant risks weigh on Gabonโs growth outlook. Geopolitical tensions and rising protectionism could affect Gabon's market access. Another significant risk is the deterioration of the fiscal situation due to expected declines in oil revenues from 2025, combined with strong pressure on public expenditures. Gabon is also exposed to risks of reduced access to external financing and higher borrowing costs, given tightening global financial conditions and limited borrowing capacity of CEMAC countries on the regional financial market. Without corrective measures, increasing fiscal deficits could undermine debt sustainability.
The World Bank Groupโs Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Gabon, covering fiscal years 2023โ2027, supports Gabonโs path toward sustainable and inclusive economic growth, contributing to two high-level outcomes: (i) enhanced household resilience and (ii) job creation in the non-oil private sector. As of July 2025, the World Bankโs current portfolio for Gabon includes three active projects (US$274.5 million) and a regional project (US$90 million).
The Economic Policy Global Practice
The Economic Policy (EP) Global Practice leads the World Bank Groupโs dialogue and engagement with clients on macroeconomics, fiscal policy, trade, competition and investment. EP links the macroeconomic dialogue with programs focused on expanding the role of the private sector in economic development. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/unit/mti-gpย
In Gabon, the EP team provides economic analysis on a range of macroeconomic, fiscal, trade, and investment issues; supports bank management with regular economic monitoring and macroeconomic modeling/forecasting; maintains local databases for economic and social statistics for use by Bank staff based in the countries and Washington D.C; and supports the wider country teams working on the country. The EP team works closely with the Country Management Unit (CMU) on a range of macroeconomic issues through advisory services and analytics.
EP has a large and exciting program in Congo. The EP team leads discussions and preparation of development policy operations and delivers regular analytic work such as economic updates, country growth and jobs report, and public finance reviews. It provides technical assistance on a range of issues and areas including tax and customs reforms, job creation, and other topics. The team has a strong high-level policy dialogue and technical engagement with key economic management agencies across government, and other stakeholders in the private sector, academia, civil society, the media, and the donor community.
The macro-fiscal policy reform agenda is central to addressing Gabonโs key development challenges in the areas of economic diversification, debt management, domestic revenue mobilization. This creates a high internal and external demand for the work of the team, which is delivered in close collaboration with the CMU and colleagues in other practices, and through intensive and flexible engagement with the government and other stakeholders.
Duties & Responsibilities:
The Economist will be an integral part of Gabon EP Team, which comprises a Lead Economist, an internationally recruited (IRS) Country Economist and consultants. He/she will also be part of Gabon Country Engagement Team comprising colleagues from the different practice groups and other senior global practice staff and which seeks to foster cross-cutting solutions supporting the implementation of the Country Partnership Framework. Each core engagement utilizes different Bank instruments (Advisory Services and Analytics or ASAs, policy dialogue, lending).
Responsibilities:
As part of the Gabon EP team, specific responsibilities of the Economist include the following:
โข Co-lead the delivery of the annual economic update for Gabon.
โข Co-lead the biannual Macro-Poverty Outlook for Gabon, working closely with the team to update the underlying Macro Fiscal Model (MFMod) for Gabon.
โข Maintain, update, and develop macroeconomic databases.
โข Lead or contribute to management briefings and EP inputs for other teams (e.g., macro context paragraphs in project documents).
โข Work on continual improvements to the teamโs set of analytics for Gabonโs economy (e.g., GDP forecasting).
โข Support and participate in the policy dialogue on macroeconomic, fiscal, and monetary policy and economic growth and job creation issues with the country authorities; focus areas will evolve with policy developments and dialogue.
โข Carry out analytical work for macro, fiscal and debt ASAs, including Public Finance Reviews (PFR) and Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA).
โข Engage in the preparation of Development Policy Operations, or other types of lending operations focused on economic and fiscal reforms.
โข Other country economist functions as required (e.g., coordinating the annual CPIA exercise).
Selection Criteria
โข Minimum of a Masterโs degree in economics, with five years of relevant experience. A PhD would be an asset.
โข Strong analytical skills in macroeconomic and fiscal management, and ability to conduct policy-relevant research.
โข Experience in economic modeling and database management; experience with statistical software packages such as Stata, Matlad or R would be an asset.
โข In-depth understanding of Gabonโs economy and the broader Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) region. A robust knowledge of the economic issues and challenges facing Gabon, built from experience working on Gabon. Familiarity with other economies in the CEMAC region, and the regional issues related to a common monetary policy and regional central bank, would be an asset.
โข Integrative capacity, including the ability to situate sectoral issues within a broader development framework.
โข Strong communication and presentation skills, in both English and French, including the ability to speak persuasively and to present ideas clearly and concisely to senior policy officials and a wide variety of audiences.
โข Strong client-orientation and diplomatic skills, combined with candor and courage of opinion.
โข Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments both independently and together with a broader team, and to adjust to a variety of evolving tasks to meet often tight deadlines.
โข A high degree of self-motivation and strong commitment to teamwork and knowledge sharing, with a willingness and ability to be part of a highly collaborative team.
WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.
Learn more about working at theย World Bankย andย IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.