David Cowan

David Cowan is a Managing Director at Citi, a multinational investment bank and financial services corporation, and the economist responsible for the bank’s economic research on Africa. Prior to joining Citi in 2007, Mr Cowan held two posts at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London for a total of eight years. As Senior Economist for Africa he was responsible for their coverage of Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and also the overall forecast for Sub-Saharan Africa. He then moved on to serve as Director of the Middle East and North Africa team, leading the coverage of Egypt and Morocco.

Prior to joining the Economist Intelligence Unit Mr Cowan worked for six years as Principal Research Officer at the Bank of Botswana, the country’s central bank. During his time at the bank he co-edited a book, Aspects of the Economy of Botswana: Selected Papers (published by James Currey and Lentswe la Lesedi with J.S. Salkin, D. Mpabanga, J. Selwe and M. Wright).

During his working career Mr Cowan has built up a wide ranging knowledge of financial and foreign exchange markets in Africa, global oil markets and the problems of maximising the benefits of natural resources in African countries.

Mr. Cowan has a first degree in economics from the University of Bath and a PhD from the University of London.