Kahkonen Satu

Satu KAHKONEN has been the World Bank Country Director for Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine since July 2016 and is based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ms. Kahkonen oversees the Bank’s program in the three countries and leads policy dialogue with government counterparts, civil society, and other partners. Prior to this position, she was the Director of the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice at the World Bank Group, which comprised over 350 staff with expertise in macroeconomics, fiscal policy, growth, and statistics. There, she oversaw the work of the Practice in Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and Pacific, as well as in South Asia. Ms. Kahkonen was a Sector Manager in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit. The cluster focused on economic policy management and covered 18 countries of the East and South East Europe — new EU Member States and Western Balkans — as well as select Eurozone countries. Preceding that, she worked as a Lead Economist in South Asia, East and South East Europe, and Africa in the World Bank. In that role, she led a team which provided economic policy advice and technical expertise to multiple countries including Pakistan, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Uganda.