Talal Rafi is an Economist and he is currently a Consultant at the Asian Development Bank on economic policy. He is a member of the Expert Network of the World Economic Forum and he is a regular columnist for the International Monetary Fund on public finance management. He co-chairs the Global Plastic Innovation Network action group of the World Economic Forum and he was a member of the Global ESG Operations team at Deloitte. He was a Senior Global Management Consultant at Deloitte and he was a member of the Deloitte Global Economist Network. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
He began his career as an entrepreneur and later moved into the development sector. As an entrepreneurship specialist at a USAID project, he was instrumental in designing a mentoring platform geared to empower women and youth entrepreneurs. He was on a Selection Committee of the Asian Development Bank #DigitalAgainstCovid-19 Innovation Series, which empowered innovative businesses in Asia to tackle challenges posed by the pandemic.
Talal was also on the team of experts at Chatham House London on formulating recommendations for the G7 and G20 on gender equality post-COVID-19. He has consulted as an industry expert under the World Bank AHEAD Project at Moratuwa University on developing an innovative entrepreneurship ecosystem and has designed an entrepreneurship program for the university.
Talal is a World Bank GYCN Climate Ambassador and he is a Fellow at the British think tank, Oxford Global Society. He serves on an advisory committee at the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka and he was on the Enterprise Operations Committee at Moratuwa University. He has also served on the board of Sri Lanka’s state foreign policy think tank, Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute and serves on the board of one of Sri Lanka’s largest asset management firms.
He has given talks globally, including at the NASDAQ Center, S&P Global and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and is a regular contributor in thought leadership for the Davos Agenda. Talal’s work has been published by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, World Economic Forum, UNFCCC (United Nations), London School of Economics, Chatham House London and Forbes.