Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze Sociali

Ordinary Academicians

Vera Songwe

Dr.

Vera Songwe

Date of birth 31 August 1968

Place Nairobi, Kenya (Africa)

Nomination 05 February 2026

Title Professor of Practice – Ford School of Public Policy University of Michigan

  • Biography
  • Publications

Dr. Vera Songwe is a Cameroonian economist, capital markets and finance expert, and senior international leader with deep experience across public, private, and multilateral development fileds. She is Chair and Founder of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, a capital markets financial infrastructure facility created to improve liquidity, reduce cost of capital and build key capital market infrastructure in emerging markets.  She is also a visiting professor at  LSE and CETEx. 

Dr Songwe is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Global Development and AGI. She served for two years as a resident senior advisor to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in , focusing on financial stability, climate and regulatory innovation.

She is Co-Chair of the Independent High-Level Expert Panel on Climate Finance, has served multiple G20 commissions, India, Brazil and South Africa. She co-chaired a report on Climate and Finance for the Brazilian G20  and a report on climate and debt sustainability for the French, Colombian, German and Kenyan Government’s. She is a member of the South African President’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council and contributes to key international initiatives at the intersection of sustainability, capital markets, finance, and economic transformation. She is a member of the International Economic Association. She has been consistently recognised among Africa’s most influential leaders by the Financial Times, Forbes, Jeune Afrique, and other global outlets.

Dr. Songwe previously held the highest regional leadership position at the United Nations serving as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). In this role she became the first woman to lead the organisation in its 60 year history, driving strategic reforms on macroeconomic stability, private sector growth, development finance, and the African Continental Free Trade Area. Her career includes senior leadership positions at the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). She also began her professional journey as a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Southern California.

Songwe holds a PhD in Mathematical Economics from the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE), Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, a Master’s in Law and Economics, and a BA in Economics and BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan.  She is a prolific writer, has co-authored books, published academic papers  and is a frequent contributor to the Financial Times, and Project Syndicate.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Capital Market Development, Finance and Private sector in emerging markets, Development, Monetary Policy, Prudential Regulation, Competition Policy, Game Theory, Climate Finance, Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Global Financial Architecture, Trade and Industrial and Investment Policy, Fiscal Policy, Structural Transformation in Africa, and Multilateral Finance Reform.

AWARDS & HONORS

  • Forbes Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women, 2020
  • BBC 100 Women, 2022
  • Amujae Leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center, 2021
  • Global Ambassador, One Young World, 2019

BOARDS & AFFILIATIONS

  • Co-Chair, High-Level Panel on Climate Finance (COP26 & COP27)
  • Member, Global Future Council on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, World Economic Forum
  • Board Member, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
  • Advisory Council, African Climate Foundation• Steering Committee, Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF)
Selected Publications
  • Songwe, V. (2023). The Path Forward for Climate Finance in Africa. Brookings Institution.
  • Songwe V. (2024). Riding the Storm: The Untold Story Story of Africa’s Covid Response.
  • Songwe V (2023). No One Is Saved Alone – Dreams in Action Based on Pope Francis’s Exhortation Laudate Deum; Edited by Gustavo Beliz for Development Bank of Latin America and Caribbean.
  • Songwe, V. & Stern, N. (2022). Finance for Climate Action: Scaling up Investment for Climate and Development. Grantham Research Institute.
  • Songwe, V. (2021). Leveraging the SDRs for Sustainable Development in Africa. ECA Policy Brief. 
  • Songwe, V. (2020). Africa’s Fiscal Response to COVID-19 and Debt Sustainability. UNECA Working Paper Series.
  • Songwe, V. et al. (2018). Deepening Regional Trade: The AfCFTA and Africa’s Industrialization Agenda. UNECA.

Articles:

Books:

  • ‘Ecosystem Arabia’, Amir Hegazi (Vera Songwe (contributor)), 2020
  • ‘Atlas of Africa: New Perspectives on the Continent’, Agence Francaise de Developpement (Vera Songwe (contributor)), 2021
  • ‘Riding the Storm: The Untold Story of Africa’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic’, (Vera Songwe (contributor)), 2024
  • ‘The Food and Financial Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa: Origins, Impacts and Policy Implications’, Chapter Six The Food and Financial Crises and Complex Derivatives: A Tale of High Stakes Innovation and Diversification, Vera Songwe (contributor) 2011
  • ‘L’intelligence économique en Afrique’, Edited by Christian Abolo Mbita and Roger Tsafack Nanfosso; Vera Songwe (preface); 2025
  • ‘Regional Integration in West Africa: Is There a Role for a Single Currency?’, Vera Songwe and Eswar Prasad 2021
  • ‘The Oxford Handbook of the Zambian Economy’, Vera Songwe, Horman Chitonga, Caleb Fundanga, Mundia Kabinga 2024
  • ‘Trade in Sectors Important to the Poor: Rice in Cambodia and Vietnam and Cashmere in Mongolia’, East Asia Integrates: A Trade Policy Agenda for Shared Growth - Vera Songwe, Francesco Goletti, Jehan Arulpragasam, Tamar Manuelyan Atinc
  • ‘Keys to Climate Action: How Developing Countries Could Drive Global Success and Local Prosperity’; Edited by Amar Bhattacharya, Homi Kharas, and John W. McArthur; November 15, 2023
  • ‘Restoring Trust in a Fractured World’ Edited by Matthew Bishop; 2022
  • “NO ONE IS SAVED ALONE” Dreams in action based on Pope Francis’s exhortation Laudate Deum’; Editor and General Coordinator: Gustavo Beliz; 2023

Ordinary Academicians | Alphabetical Order