Ritva Reinikka

Ritva Reinikka is the World Bank country director for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. Since she joined the Bank in 1993 as a country economist in the Eastern Africa Department, she has held various positions in the Africa Region and the Development Research Group, and was co-director of the 2004 World Development Report, Making Services Work for Poor People. Prior to her current assignment she was a research manager in the Development Research Group. Her research interests include public expenditures, service delivery, and macroeconomic and trade policy. Before joining the Bank, she was a researcher at the Centre for the Study of African Economies in the University of Oxford and the Helsinki School of Economics. She held operational positions at UNICEF and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland.