Erdem Atas is currently serving as the Country Economist and Resident Coordinator for the Maldives at The World Bank. With over 10 years of experience in economic policy and management, Erdem has been coordinating the World Bank engagement and operations and leading core economic policy and reform dialogue in the Maldives. Erdem has led and coordinated high-profile initiatives such as the Maldives Development Updates and the joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis.
Before his current role, Erdem served as a Country Economist for Turkey at The World Bank, where he contributed to core macro monitoring, analysis, and forecasting. He co-authored several high-profile economic reports and worked on core macro-fiscal, financial sector and structural policy issues, including Country Economic Memorandums on Productivity and Global Value Chains, Public Expenditure Reviews, and Financial Sector Assessment Programs.
During his early career, Erdem worked as an Economic Analyst with the International Monetary Fund, where he co-authored several selected issues papers on corporate debt vulnerabilities and real estate sector dynamics in Turkey, and provided analytical and technical inputs for Article IV reports on Turkey.
Erdem holds an M.Sc. in Economics and International Financial Economics from the University of Warwick and a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of London.