Bio
Simplice G. Zouhonbi is a non-resident Senior Fellow at ACET. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of IDCNx, an Economic and Policy Management Advisory firm. He brings over 27 years of experience in international development in West, East and Central Africa, and Madagascar, including leadership, research, policy advice, technical assistance and management, at international organizations and in the private sector.
He served as Senior Adviser to the United Nations/UNDP and the Government in Madagascar and, in this capacity, led the preparation of Madagascar’s development strategy and technical assistance for resource mobilization. He launched key reports on investment and trade, inclusive growth and SDGs, in partnership with UNCTAD and the AfDB. At the African Development Bank, he played a central role in policy dialogue on resilience and inclusive development and, as Head of Mission of the Fragile States Facility in Central Africa, led innovative development and technical assistance programs, including governance reforms and debt relief.
At the World Bank, he held consulting and expert positions in support of a growing program of economic reforms and budget support, advisory services, technical assistance to African governments, and carried out analytical and research work covering a range of topics, including economic growth, fiscal policy, public finance, investment climate, and trade. He was a member of the team that designed the first Regional Integration Assistance Strategy for West Africa.
Prior to joining the World Bank, he was an economist and expert at DCGTX /BNETD, the government’s strategy and advisory consulting firm in Ivory Coast, where he coordinated several economic studies, helping to catalyze policy change. He led partnership missions to East Asia (Thailand and Malaysia) in support of Ivory Coast’s long term growth strategy. As Permanent Secretary, he oversaw the technical organization of the first international investment forum “Invest in Ivory Coast”, which mobilized resources for transformational infrastructure projects.
Simplice Zouhonbi is the co-author of The Economic Community of West African States: fiscal revenue implications of the prospective economic partnership agreement with the European Union, and the author of Economic Growth and Convergence: How Far is China from Africa? and other publications.
He holds MAs in Macroeconomics and Development Economics, and Economic Policy Management (with distinction) from the University of Clermont Ferrand, CERDI (France), an Executive Certificate in Leadership from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Economics from the University of Abidjan (Ivory Coast). He also studied International Finance while conducting post-graduate research on regulatory reforms and the banking sector at the University of Paris Dauphine.