Post of duty: Washington D.C
The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.
About this position:
To achieve sustainable and equitable development in the region, the Research Department (RES) generates new ideas to enrich the knowledge base supporting the policy agenda of the Bank and its member countries. To maximize the impact of its research, RES carries out activities that serve as inputs to Bank departments, governments, academia, and public opinion in the region.
The research carried out at RES complements the Bankโs analysis of the economic situation of countries in the Region and supports the review process of assessments of macroeconomic conditions, the preparation of country strategy documents, and various programming activities by the Regional Economic Advisors (REAs) and country economists. RES also contributes analytical inputs for the IDBโs annual report, the Latin American and Caribbean Macroeconomic report, and other IDB publications, speeches, and presentations.
Among its many activities, RES works together with the Vice Presidency of Countries (VPC) in the elaboration of reports on macroeconomic conditions written by country economists under the supervision of REAs. These reports analyze different aspects of the macroeconomy of IDBโs borrowing countries, including the main developments and the policy frameworks related to fiscal, monetary, external, and financial issues. RES provides technical and analytical inputs to perform macroeconomic assessments, acting as peer reviewers of the analyses, and supporting REAs and country economists in the use of the methodologies developed for these reports.
The consultant will support the activities related to the elaboration of assessments of macroeconomic conditions for IDBโs borrowing countries, particularly on (but not limited to) Debt and External Sustainability Analysis (DSA and ESA). The consultant will be the liaison between the country economists / REAs, in charge of elaborating the macroeconomic assessments, and RES macroeconomists who review and validate the reports. The consultant will support all parties in varied tasks related to the implementation of DSA and ESA; the enhancement of analytical tools used in the analyses; and the collection and analysis of relevant data. The consultant will also be an active participant in the monthly meeting of the IDBโs macroeconomic group that discusses the country reports and perform other tasks related to macroeconomic monitoring and analysis of the borrowing member countries.
What youโll do:
- Work with RES researchers and perform the following activities:
- Provide expert advice and technical support to country economists in the implementation of IDBโs proprietary Debt and External Sustainability templates that are currently used for macroeconomic assessments.
- Keep the IDB templates up-to-date and make changes or adjustments to the programming of the templates as needed (programming codes are in visual basic VBA).
- Provide regular training for template users from within the IDB and external users on demand.
- Collaborate with RES macroeconomists involved in the review of country macroeconomic reports, checking the consistency and accuracy of the analyses performed by country economists based on the Debt and External Sustainability templates and the methodologies related to monetary and financial issues.
- Support RES to keep a centralized database with the data used in the country reports and from other sources and create technical reports for senior economists and management.
- Support other efforts of RES to provide data relevant to the reports, including but not limited to Bloomberg, and the confidential IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) database.
- Deliver weekly reports with updated market and macroeconomic data of IDBโs countries and core world economies.
- Undertake research activities as directed by the supervisor or by other senior members of the Research Departmentโs Macroeconomic Team in support of RESโs and, particularly, of the Macroeconomics groupโs research agenda.
- Undertake other activities, as necessary, to support the macroeconomic monitoring or research tasks of RES.
What you'll need:
- Education: Masterโs degree in economics, finance, or related field is required.
- Experience: Minimum of 8 years of experience in related field.
- Language: English and Spanish
Key skills:
Technical Skills:
- Expertise in the areas of macroeconomic assessment of countries, debt and external sustainability analyses, open economy macroeconomics.
- At least two years of experience managing/using analytical tools for macroeconomic analysis (Bloomberg and Haver).
- Proven programming skills in Visual Basic (VBA); Matlab; Stata and/or other similar programs.
- Experience with macroeconomic data on fiscal and external sector (WEO, Balance of Payments and International Investment Position).
- Ability to use initiative and work without supervision and to diagnose and resolve technical problems independently or in collaboration with internal and remote team members.
- Experience providing training courses and conducting research in related fields is desirable.
Soft Skills:
- Learn continuously.
- Collaborate and share knowledge.
- Focus on clients.
- Communicate and influence.
- Innovate and try new things.
- Ability to use initiative and work without supervision and to diagnose and resolve technical problems independently or in collaboration with internal and remote team members.
Desirable Skills:
- Experience working with large databases and using specialized statistical packages (e.g., STATA, SAS) is required.
- Experience providing training courses and conducting research in related fields is desirable.
- Experience conducting economic research.
- Must be results-oriented with a proven ability to deliver commitments on time and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Requirements:
- Ability to use initiative and work without supervision and to diagnose and resolve technical problems independently or in collaboration with internal and remote team members.
- Willingness to learn new technologies and software is a must.
Type of contract and duration:
- Type of contract: International Consultant Full Time.
- Length of contract: 18 months.
- Work Location: On Site.
What we offer:
The IDB group provides benefits that respond to the different needs and moments of an employeeโs life. These benefits include:
- A competitive compensation packages.
- Leaves and vacations: 2 days per month of contract + gender- neutral parental leave.
- Health Insurance: the IDB Group provides a monthly allowance for the purchase of health insurance.
- Savings plan: โโโโโโโThe IDB Group cares about your future, depending on the length of the contract, you will receive a monthly savings plan allowance.
- We offer assistance with relocation and visa applications for you and your family when it applies.