Responsibilities:

• The role is expected to help the Bank to achieve its mission of “stimulating a consistent expansion and diversification of African trade so as to rapidly increase Africa’s share of global trade while operating as a first class profit oriented socially responsible financial institution and a centre of excellence in African trade matters” by leading theoretical and applied trade and commodity research and leading / participating in the preparation of reports and publications as may be required by Senior Management.
• Contribute to the enhancement of research methodology in the preparation of required studies in the areas of trade and economic development issues pertinent to Africa.
• Lead research in trade commodities and economic development to inform investment decisions by the Bank.
• Undertake research in trade and economic integration to support implementation of the AfCFTA.
• Undertake commodity research to produce / regularly update Afreximbank African Commodity Index (AACI).
• Lead the preparation production and publication of flagship reports including the African Trade Report (ATR) and others related to developments and trends in global and African trade trade finance commodities as well as sector and country studies / reports and their impact on African economies and the Bank’s operations.
• Lead commodity research analysing the dynamics of commodities and their implications for African economies and the Bank’s operations.
• Undertake preparation of technical reports for management decision and the Board.
• Analyse large data and interpret econometric and statistical output in support of Bank operations and policy formulation.
• Monitor trends and dynamics of trade and update relevant data of interest to the Bank including balance-of-payments dynamics for African countries.
• Contribute to the provision of timely and relevant research and analytical support to business origination units and other units/departments of the Bank.
• Lead preparation of studies reports and other publications promoting extra and intra-African trade commodities and regional integration in Africa.
• Undertake research on processing of commodities and industrialization in support of implementation of the AfCFTA and undertaking periodic analyses in collaboration with relevant departments / units of the state of play of the continental initiative to inform ongoing interventions by the Banks.
• Contribute to preparation and coordination of the production of the Bank’s key publications including as Contemporary Issues in African Trade and Trade Finance (CIAT) Annual Report Distinguished Lecture Series the Journal of African Trade (JAT) Afreximbank Trade & Development Finance Briefs (ATDF) Trade & Market Updates Country Briefs and Working Paper Series.
• Lead the consolidation / building of collaborative research relationships with external partners including academia and other research institutions regional and international trade and development finance institutions such as the WTO ITC and UNCTAD regional capacity building institutions to support Africa’s development and the Bank’s operations.
• Support ongoing efforts to build time series data on trade trade finance and banking in Africa.
• Lead the conduct of cutting-edge research in economics ranging from theoretical methodological issues to applied economics touching on trade commodities development and economic integration issues.
• Represent the Bank at international and regional seminars and conferences on trade regional integration value chains commodities and industrialization.

Requirements:

• A Master or PhD Degree in economics especially international economics and Trade / econometrics or other related fields from a recognized University.
• Excellence knowledge of the African trade and commodity landscape.
• Sound and proven experience of at least 10 years as a research economist in the areas of trade trade policies and regional integration commodities preferably in a Development Finance Institution (DFI) or reputable organization.
• Proven research capacity in relevant fields demonstrated and supported by a track record of relevant publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Demonstrated experience in analysis of developments in global and African trade trade finance and commodity dynamics and their implications for economic development.
• Demonstrated experience in preparing and presenting research papers for use by the financial services industry and an expert understanding of quantitative and qualitative research and econometric methods.
• Demonstrated experience in analysis of trade policy and regional integration and good knowledge of the AfCFTA.
• Demonstrated experience in analysis of commodity markets with good command of commodity forecasts as well as price volatility models.
• Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change oriented setting with good knowledge of research practices in Africa.
• Ability to interact with senior officials of regional and international institutions corporates and governments and to represent the Bank at important professional fora where oral presentations of technical and professional papers are delivered to a technical and professional audience and Board Members.
• Demonstrated experience in trade research and familiarity with GTAP and CGE models.
• Good knowledge of statistical and econometric software for economic finance and trade analysis (e.g. SPSS STATA E-Views Mathlab SAS MICROFIT PcGive Excel spreadsheet etc.).
• Knowledge of broad analytical techniques such as statistics econometrics as well as mathematical and operations research particular ability to analyze and draw reasonable inferences from the analyses of financial trade and commodity data.
• Familiarity with major macroeconomic and trade database including those of World Bank IMF ITC WTO and UNCTAD.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision and under pressure with tight deadlines.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. Knowledge of one of the Bank's other working languages is an added advantage (French Arabic and Portuguese.
• Excellent knowledge of growth and trade-related models.

Contractual Information:

• Permanent
• Willing and able to relocate to Cairo Egypt for the opportunity.