Yumeka Hirano is an Economist in the World Bank’s Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice for Eastern and Sothern Africa. She is one of the lead authors of the Malawi Economic Monitor and works on advisory services and lending operations for Malawi. Prior to this, Yumeka worked as an Economist in the Independent Evaluation Groupand the Office of the Chief Economist for the East Asia and Pacific Region. Prior to joining the World Bank, Yumeka served as a Research Fellow at the Japan Society of Promotion of Science. She has numerous research reports, journal articles, and book chapters on globalization and development, macroeconomic and fiscal issues, and development aid. Yumeka holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University.