Post of duty: Panama City, Panama

The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.

The IDB is a long-term development partner in Central America and Panama, with a substantial portfolio across many sectors. This necessitates accurate assessment and guidance of the IDB’s actions within the country if development goals are to be met in an effective manner. The IDB Country Offices in Panama (1) support the development, processing, negotiation and administration of projects and programs; (2) lead and maintain relations with governments and civil society members; (3) support the routine implementation of operations; and (4) monitor project-related procurement activities within the country. The Country Offices monitor the country’s macroeconomic environment, conduct economic and sector studies, and organize workshops to strengthen knowledge capacity. Given this context, fulfilling the goals and vision of the IDB Country Offices in Panama requires the strategic, administrative, and technical abilities of a research assistant, to support the country economists in policy dialogue, macroeconomic monitoring, and economic analysis.

About this position:

The objective of this consultancy will be to support the Country Economist and Coordinator (Panama) as part of the CID/CPN department in carrying out development-oriented research, macroeconomic data gathering and analysis, and Bank’s documents preparation and review.

What you’ll do:

  • Participate and/or perform research in areas such as: macroeconomics, public finance, economic development, international economics, and other areas as part of the research agenda for the economists.
  • Review and summarize economic assessment reports and development analysis papers.
  • Provide assistance to the Country Economist concerning the content of the analytical work.
  • Provide assistance to the Country Economist in relation to the elaboration of the country strategy documents.
  • Oversee and coordinate the gathering and archival of necessary data to support the work of the Country Economist; may include the establishment and maintenance of strategic databases to track country indicators, monitor economic analysis and inform sector studies; support analytical work (economic and sector) as needed.
  • Give support to tasks assigned by the Country Coordinator involving the operational procedures of the different projects that the IDB may have with the Government.
  • Preparing inputs to country briefs, mainly addressing social and economic issues.
  • Other activities as deemed necessary.

    What you'll need:

    • Education: Bachelor´s degree or equivalent in Economics or related areas.
    • Experience: two years of relevant professional experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
    • Languages: Ability to read, write and speak fluently in Spanish and English.

      Key skills:

      • Learn continuously.
      • Collaborate and share knowledge.
      • Focus on clients.
      • Communicate and influence.
      • Innovate and try new things.
      • In-depth knowledge of one or more fields of economics and awareness of its relationship with other fields.
      • Knowledge of current analytical tools and quantitative techniques/methods such as econometric techniques and macroeconomic modeling.
      • Critical thinking abilities.
      • Ability to provide sound technical support.
      • Excellent interpersonal skills.
      • Ability to handle several tasks and participate in different teams at the same time.
      • Ability to be receptive to new ideas, interact in groups and exhibit leadership qualities.
      • Knowledge of Bank processes, including routine preparation of country briefs.
      • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
      • Flexibility and adaptability, as well as willingness to learn new skills and face unexpected challenges.
      • Computer skills: MS Office and good command of at least one statistical package such as SPSS and STATA or programming language such as Python or R.

        Requirements:

        • Citizenship: You are either a citizen of Panama or a citizen of one of our 48-member countries with residency or legal permit to work in Panama.
        • Consanguinity: You have no family members (up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity, including spouse) working at the IDB, IDB Invest, or IDB Lab.

          Type of contract and duration:

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