Philip Schellekens is Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at UNDP and non-resident fellow at CGD. He has broad interests in global development and strategic foresight, with recent work focusing on: (1) what the development model of the future might be in light of radical shifts in climate, demography, globalization and technology, (2) how countries can climb up the income ladder through innovation-led and inclusive growth, and (3) how COVID-19 has been accompanied by huge inequality across countries rich and poor in terms pandemic outcomes and solutions.
Prior to joining UNDP, he worked for over 20 years at the Bretton Woods institutions. At the World Bank Group, he was Senior Economic Advisor to the CEO of the International Finance Corporation, supporting the organization’s (re)orientation towards development impact. Before this, he managed strategic foresight at the World Bank research department, where he headed Global Modeling and Analytics and led the IMF/WB Global Monitoring Report on demography and development. Earlier on, he served as the Bank’s senior country economist for Malaysia, China and Brazil, with the first two assignments based in Asia.
At the IMF, he worked in the Asia & Pacific and Monetary & Capital Markets Departments, conducting macro and financial surveillance for Hong Kong, Lebanon, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand. He also worked in the European Department, where he produced regional studies on financial deepening and migration.
He completed his academic training at the Economics Departments of MIT, Harvard, LSE and the University of Antwerp. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from LSE.
