IMF Connect

Andy Berg is Deputy Director of the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, with responsibility for ICD’s CD delivery. Previously, he was chief of the Development Macroeconomics Division in the IMF’s Research Department and before that held a variety of positions in the IMF, including as chief of the Regional Studies Division and mission chief to Malawi in the African Department, and in the Department of Strategy Policy and Review. He first joined the IMF in 1993. He has also worked at the U.S. Treasury as Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Latin American (2000–2001) and Chief Economist of the Mexico Task Force (1995–1996). He has published articles on, among other things, the prediction of currency crises, inequality and growth, public investment and debt sustainability, the macroeconomic implications of artificial intelligence, and monetary policy in low-income countries. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and an undergraduate degree from Harvard.

Afolabi Olowookere is an Alternate Executive Director at the IMF, representing the West Africa Constituency. Prior to that, he was Head of Economic Research and Policy Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria, and a research economist at the World Bank. Mr. Olowookere lectured at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Collaborative Postgraduate Programme and was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Econometrics and Allied Research, Department of Economics, University of Ibadan. He is a member of the Productive Capacities Index Statistical and Technical Task Team of the UNCTAD, and served in the drafting and the macroeconomic modelling groups that worked on the National Development Plans (2021-2025) and Agenda 2050 for Nigeria. Mr. Olowookere holds Ph.D. in economics from the University of Ibadan. 

Hideaki Imamura is Senior Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance of Japan, responsible for multilateral policy coordination including G20, G7 and the IMF and bilateral cooperation with advanced economies. Since his joining the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Imamura has taken charge of policy making mostly in the international domain. His past career at the Ministry extended to a variety of dimensions, including the IMF/MDBs, G20/G7, foreign exchange, climate and environment finance, economic security, digital currencies, and fiscal policy. His most recent assignments were Executive Director for Japan at the World Bank Group and Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for Asian financial cooperation. Mr. Imamura also has rich experiences in international organizations as staff. He was a country mission chief for selected South Asian countries at the Asian Development Bank for four years; and took charge of financial resource mobilization at for the International Monetary Fund for five years. Mr. Imamura graduated from the University of Tokyo and earned MA in Applied Economics from the University of Michigan.  

Michaela Erbenová has been a Deputy Director in the Institute for Capacity Development since June 2020, overseeing the review and implementation of the IMF’s capacity development strategy, as well as the Fund-wide CD prioritization, CD governance and evaluation. She also oversees ICD’s modernization and IT capital projects, the training program, including the global network of regional training centers, the online training program and the Internal Economics Training for IMF staff. Her previous IMF career encompassed more than 10 years in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department as a financial sector expert; mission chief in several FSAPs and a chief of Financial Supervision and Regulation Division. In 2016-2018, Michaela served on the IMF Executive Board as Executive Director for Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Kosovo, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey. Before joining the IMF, Michaela was a Member of the Board and Chief Executive Director of the Czech National Bank, chief advisor to the Czech Finance Minister and member of the Government Steering Committee for Bank Privatization, as well as advisor on investor relations in Komercni Banka and a manager with A.T. Kearney office in Prague. Michaela holds a Ph.D. in economics from Charles University in Prague and MA in mathematical methods in economy from Moscow State University. 

Mumtaz Hussain is Senior Economist and Financial Programming and Policies course lead at the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development. He brings extensive experience from the IMF and other institutions. His IMF career began in the Strategy and Policy Review department, where he worked on policy challenges related to designing adjustment programs for developing countries. Subsequently, he spent a decade in operational roles, working closely with countries under IMF-supported adjustment programs. Throughout these roles, Mumtaz led analytical work across all major economic sectors. Since he joined the ICD, his primary focus has been training IMF economists and government officials in macroeconomic frameworks and policy analysis and delivering technical assistance on these issues to member countries. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Hussain held academic and research positions at the International Islamic University of Pakistan, Northeastern University in Boston, and the Harvard Institute for International Development. He has a Ph.D. from Northeastern University.