Rong Qian is the new Senior Economist for Philippines. Rong previously worked in Latin America region, where she was the country economist for Chile, Nicaragua, and more recently part of the Brazil Macro team. She has lead Development Policy Operations for Panama, lead and contributed numerous analytical work with a focus on growth, productivity, and fiscal policy. Rong joined the Bank in 2011 as Young Professional and spent her first year in Research Department where she focused her research on sovereign defaults and financial crises. She holds a Ph.D in Economics from University of Maryland.