Rachel (Raha) Shahidsaless is a Senior Private Specialist with the Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice of the World Bank in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. She is currently on an assignment with the International Finance Corporation’s Regional and Country Economics Engagement unit, Program Leader for the Country Private Sector Diagnostics work in the Middle East, Central Asia, Turkiye, Pakistan and Afghanistan region. Her work program usually involves projects in which financial and real sector intersect. Prior to joining the World Bank, Raha worked at the Monetary and Capital Markets department of the International Monetary Fund, responsible for reviewing and benchmarking the Central Bank laws of all member states against a set of criteria. Raha holds a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from the Schulich School of Business (Toronto, Canada) and a JD (law) degree from the Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto, Canada).