Mathew Verghis is the South Asia Regional Director for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions at the World Bank. His previous assignments have been as Practice Manager for Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment in East and Southern Africa and as Practice Manager in East Asia covering China, Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Earlier he had served as Lead Economist for Southeast Asia, Senior Economist for Turkey and Serbia, and country economist for Ethiopia and Eritrea. He has written widely on growth, poverty, fiscal policy and labor markets. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D in Economics from the University of Notre Dame, in the United States.