EBRD appoints Heike Harmgart MD for southern and eastern Mediterranean

shaheennews

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has appointed Heike Harmgart as Managing Director for its southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region, replacing Janet Heckman who is retiring from the EBRD.

A German national, Harmgart will head up the EBRD’s banking operations in the SEMED region, which currently comprises Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza. She will take up her position on the first of January, 2020.

The EBRD promotes private sector development across 38 emerging economies. It began investing in the southern and eastern Mediterranean in 2012.

“It is a great privilege to take over responsibility for the EBRD’s activities in this key region for the Bank. I look forward to building yet further on the achievements of my predecessors in working to deliver robust and sustainable economies in support of the people who live there,” Harmgart said.

Rapidly engaged in SEMED, the EBRD has invested over €10 billion since the start of its operations in the region, supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, promoting agribusiness, developing infrastructure and local services and supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and the development of local capital markets.

Harmgart, who joined the EBRD in 2006 as an economist, was appointed EBRD head in Jordan in 2013 and subsequently assumed responsibly for the wider eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza as well as Jordan. She previously worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and holds a PhD in economics from University College London.

//Petra//