South-East Asia Policy Dialogue: Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2022

Shuvojit Banerjee is Officer-in-charge of the Macroeconomic Policy and Analysis Section of ESCAP, where he provides economic and financial policy analysis and advice for Asia-Pacific countries. His areas of specialization include macroeconomics, finance, trade and investment. He has previously worked with the United Nations Development Programme as Economic Policy Advisor to the Government of Indonesia and Advisor on Foreign Direct Investment and Trade with UNCTAD for governments in Africa and Latin America. He has also worked for the private sector in corporate finance at the investment bank Morgan Stanley in London. He is the holder of both doctorate and undergraduate (First Class Honours) degrees in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Masters degree in Economics from Cambridge University. 

Ulrich Volz is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS, University of London. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the German Development Institute, a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Leipzig. At SOAS, he previously served as Head of the Department of Economics and Member of the University’s Executive Board. Ulrich is Chairman of the Japan Economy Network and Co-editor-in-chief of the Asia Europe Journal. Ulrich is a director of the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment and serves on the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee of the German Federal Government and the advisory panel of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for German Net Zero (GFANZ). He is a co-chair of the Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery initiative and serves on the advisory committee for the Climate/SDGs Debt Swap Mechanism of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. He is a member of the CEPR Sustainable Finance Research and Policy Network and the World Bank’s Green Recovery Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group. Ulrich was Banque de France Chair at EHESS in Paris, and also taught at Peking University, Kobe University, Hertie School of Governance, Freie Universität Berlin, Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, and the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo. He spent stints working at the European Central Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and held visiting positions at the University of Oxford, University of Birmingham, ECB, Bank Indonesia, and Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. Ulrich was part of the UN Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and of the NGFS-INSPIRE Study Group on Biodiversity and Financial Stability. He served on the Advisory Council of the Asian Development Bank Institute and has acted as an advisor to several governments, central banks, international organisations and development agencies on matters of macroeconomic policy, sustainable finance and development.

Dr. Pisit Puapan is currently Director of Macroeconomic Analysis Division under the Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance, Thailand. In his current position, he is responsible for economic review, monitoring, forecast and macroeconomic and fiscal policy analysis under the Ministry of Finance. He regularly meets with IMF and credit rating agencies to hold policy discussion and dialogue on behalf of the Ministry.
Since joining the government in 1998, he has been delegated to work on various assignments within the Ministry. His first assignment was with the Public Debt Management Office responsible for bilateral loan negotiation. In 2001, he performed analyses on financial sector and trade liberalization under the ASEAN and APEC frameworks. He was the primary official responsible for the implementation of ASEAN+3 Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) under the Chiang Mai Initiative. During 2003-2005, Dr. Pisit was assigned to Government Expenditures Policy Section, Bureau of Fiscal Policy, and handled the preparatory process of the Thai government’s annual budget.

Laura Ignacio is currently a Principal Researcher at the BSP Research Academy of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).  Before the Research Academy, Ms. Ignacio was Director of the Monetary and Financial Policy Studies Group of the Department of Economics and Director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Policy of the BSP.  Prior to the BSP, Ms. Ignacio was a Research Consultant at the World Bank. She was also an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.  She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from the University of the Philippines, and graduated from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. with a PhD in Economics.

Pitchaya’s expertise is international economics and finance, specializing in regional economic integration and financial cooperation as well as bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, development of financial markets, and international/ transnational investment.

Prior to joining ADBI in 2018, Pitchaya was an assistant director and the head of finance integration division at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was senior researcher, providing policy advocacy and consultancy for a Thai government think tank, the UNDP’s Asia Pacific Regional Office, and the European Association for Business and Commerce. Pitchaya was also an assistant director and macroeconomist at the ASEAN Integration Monitoring Office, in charge of surveillance and monitoring process for the ASEAN Economic Community. She holds a PhD in international economics from the University of Utah, United States.

As a Senior Advisor to the Minister of National Development Planning for Social Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Vivi’s main responsibility is doing analysis and providing advises to the minister on social issues and poverty reduction and strategies. She has long experience in designing Indonesian anti poverty programs including Community Driven Development, Conditional Cash Transfer, and some subsidy reforms.  She has major contribution in the development of the National Social Security System, National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, Government to Person (G2P) payment transformation, and comprehensive Social Protection framework.

She is currently also as the Head of the National Secretariate for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She led the development of the Indonesia’s VNR, SDGs Road Map, and SDGs National Action Plan. 

She holds PhD in Planning and Development from University of Southern California (2004), Master in Urban and Regional Planning from University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (1999), bachelor from University of Indonesia (1991); and took many courses in social protection, evaluation, change management, and digital transformation.

Mr. Soerakoesoemah is Head of the Subregional Office for South-East Asia at UN ESCAP. He initiates work on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in eleven member countries, in partnership with governments, international institutions, civil society, and private sector entities. He also leads the cooperation for the UN with ASEAN in the economic and social-cultural areas. Prior to UN ESCAP, he managed economic development programmes and delivered technical assistance in the ASEAN and the Pacific region. He has extensive experience in policy analysis, development cooperation, and regional integration in Asia and the Pacific.