rhakim@usaid.gov

Dr. Rasha Abdel-Hakim is the Senior Economic Counselor at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Egypt.  She is managing projects in the areas of macroeconomic reform, workforce development, technical education, customs reform, trade facilitation, public financial management, regulatory reform, industrial policy, competition policy, institutional strengthening, and ease of doing business.  She has been working for USAID for the past 20 years.  Before that, she worked as an economic adviser to the Minister of International Cooperation and an economic consultant with different research institutions.  She received her Ph.D. in economics from Cairo University and her thesis addressed the impact of investing in human capital on economic growth.  Some of the policy considerations presented in the thesis are currently being advocated by the Egyptian government.  She received her B.A. and M.A. in economics from the American University in Cairo.  She is the author of several research papers in the field of international trade, growth diagnostics and competition policy and contributed to the World Bank Ease of Doing Business report of 2007.  She was also a part-time assistant professor of economics at the American University in Cairo.