Brahima Sangafowa Coulibaly

Brahima Sangafowa Coulibaly is vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings and the Edward M. Bernstein Scholar, after previously serving as director of the program’s Africa Growth Initiative. He joined Brookings in April 2017 after nearly a decade and half at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System where he was most recently chief economist and head of the emerging market and developing economies group. In that capacity, he oversaw the institution’s work on emerging markets and developing economies, provided intellectual leadership on economic and financial issues facing these economies, and often represented the Federal Reserve in international meetings and working groups on relevant topics. Since 2025, he serves on the board of Myriad USA. 

Coulibaly has also taught economics and international finance at Georgetown University, the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia, and the University of Michigan. He has published widely in top-tier academic journals on various topics in international finance, macroeconomics, economic development, monetary economics, and trade. He speaks regularly to the national and international media on these issues. His research has featured in numerous prominent media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Project Syndicate, and the New York Times.

Coulibaly holds a doctoral and master’s degree in economics, both from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley.