Dr. Zaidi Sattar, Chairman, PRI, and a former senior economist of the World Bank, is a broad-based development economist with specialization in trade, macroeconomics and development.
Dr. Sattar was educated at the Boston University and has conducted policy research in the areas of macroeconomic management, growth, and trade policy. Dr. Sattar was a core team member drafting the Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-15) and the Perspective Plan (2010-2021) of Bangladesh. He is recognized as a leading expert on trade and industrial policy issues in Bangladesh.
He served as World Bank Advisor on tariffs and customs reform at the National Board of Revenue (1992-95), and later as UNDP Macroeconomist at the Planning Commission (1995-96). He joined the World Bank in 1996 as Senior Economist, South Asia Region, where he served as macro and trade economist until September 2007. He co-authored two seminal World Bank publications, Trade Policies in South Asia: An Overview (2004) and Studies in India- Bangladesh Trade (2006). He was the lead author of another World Bank publication, “Bangladesh 2020: A Long-Run Perspective Study”. Prior to his World Bank appointment, he was the member of the faculty of The Catholic University of America, Washington DC (1984 – 1992). He was also a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan and Bangladesh (1969 – 1983), having served in different ministries and districts in Pakistan and Bangladesh. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the Millennium University, Dhaka (2007 – 2008). He has numerous publications in international and national journals and has presented papers on trade policy, private sector development, and growth issues at national and international conferences. He is on the Board of Directors of several financial institutions: Southeast Bank Ltd., Southeast Bank Foundation, and Asia Insurance Limited. He is a life member of Bangladesh Economic Association, Bangladesh Economists’ Forum and American Alumni Association. He is also an Advisor to The Financial Express.