John Sfakianakis is Regional Director, GCC, Ashmore Group. Before joining Ashmore, Sfakianakis was the Chief Investment Strategist of MASIC, the Riyadh-based investment and asset management company. Previously, he held the post of Chief Economic Advisor at the Saudi Ministry of Finance. He also served as Chief Economist for Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) and also Chief Economist, Middle East North Africa region for Credit Agricole C.I.B, the foreign joint-venture partner of BSF. He served as the Chief Economist of The Saudi British Bank (SABB) in Riyadh, a joint venture with HSBC and also worked for Samba Financial Group as its Chief Regional Economist. He has also worked for the United Nations (UNDP) and the World Bank as an economist in Washington, D.C. His articles appear frequently in the Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
