STATE OF THE ECONOMY

Dr Patrick Njoroge was reappointed Governor of the Central Bank with effect from June 18, 2019. He holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University, USA, and a master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Economics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to joining the Central Bank, Dr Njoroge had a long career, spanning 20 years, at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington, D.C., USA. At the IMF, he was advisor to the IMF Deputy Managing Director from December 2012. He also served as Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Finance Department and IMF Mission Chief for the Commonwealth of Dominica, as well as other capacities beginning in 1995. Prior to joining the IMF, Dr Njoroge worked in Kenya as an economist at the Ministry of Finance and as a planning officer at the Ministry of Planning. His professional and research interests are in Macroeconomics, Economic Policy, International Finance, Development Economics, Econometrics and Monetary Policy.

David Cowan is the economist responsible for the bank’s economic research on Africa. Prior to joining Citi in 2007, Mr Cowan held two posts at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London for a total of eight years. As Senior Economist for Africa he was responsible for their coverage of Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and also the overall forecast for Sub-Saharan Africa. He then moved on to serve as Director of the Middle East and North Africa team, leading the coverage of Egypt and Morocco.

Prior to joining the Economist Intelligence Unit Mr Cowan worked for six years as Principal Research Officer at the Bank of Botswana, the country’s central bank. During his time at the bank he co-edited a book, Aspects of the Economy of Botswana: Selected Papers (published by James Currey and Lentswe la Lesedi with J.S. Salkin, D. Mpabanga, J. Selwe and M. Wright).

During his working career Mr Cowan has built up a wide ranging knowledge of financial and foreign exchange markets in Africa, global oil markets and the problems of maximising the benefits of natural resources in African countries.

Mr. Cowan has a first degree in economics from the University of Bath and a PhD from the University of London.