Global Economic Monitoring Branch

Director

Hamid Rashid, Chief, Development Research Branch, leads the writing team for the World Economic Situation and Prospects. Previously, he served as the Senior Inter-Regional Adviser for Macroeconomic Policy in UN/DESA, advising finance, central banks and planning authorities in developing countries on how to design and implement policies to manage short-term economic shocks and realize the long-term goals of equitable growth and sustainable development. Prior to joining UN/DESA in 2010, Hamid served as a Senior Adviser in UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy and also as the Director General for Multilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh. He earned his Ph.D. in finance and economics from Columbia University in New York, working under his advisor and mentor, Professor Joseph Stiglitz. Hamid also obtained a MPhil in Economics and MPA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas. His research interest includes macroeconomic policies, international finance, financial market liberalization and their impact on economic growth and development.

The Global Economic Monitoring Branch (GEM) monitors and analyses global economic trends and prospects and their implications for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Using its World Economic Forecasting Model, GEM produces globally consistent economic forecasts for a large number of developed, emerging and developing economies. GEM leads the production and dissemination of the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) – the definitive report of the United Nations system on the state of the global economy – in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the five United Nations Regional Commissions and the United Nations World Tourism Organization. GEM collaborates with Project LINK – a non-governmental international consortium consisting of econometric modelling experts from individual countries and international organizations that is coordinated jointly by EAPD and the University of Toronto – to exchange views on the world economic outlook and gather bottom-up inputs for its macroeconomic forecasts. GEM also provides policy advice and capacity development support to developing countries on macroeconomic modelling and policy options, emphasizing the need for stronger linkages between short-term macroeconomic and long-term development policies.

Latest from the Global Economic Monitoring Branch (GEMB)

World Economic Situation And Prospects: September 2021 Briefing, No. 153

Unconventional monetary policy measures have played a crucial part in central banks’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Large-scale quantitative easing has led to an unprecedented expansion of developed country central bank balanced sheets.