Who is Rawaa Harati, the newest member of Lebanon’s IMF negotiation committee?

BEIRUT — President Joseph Aoun appointed Rawaa Harati on April 8 to the national committee responsible for negotiating a new assistance program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Lebanon has been mired in an economic crisis for over five years and talks with the IMF have been repeatedly stalled because of the country’s inability to implement the necessary reforms. A delegation led by the IMF mission chief for Lebanon, Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, made its second visit to the country this week since the formation of Nawaf Salam’s government.

Harati, an economist and foreign policy expert, currently serves as Aoun’s economic cooperation adviser.

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Born in Lebanon, Harati obtained her PhD in economics from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris in 2014. She holds a degree in political science and international affairs from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and another in economics from the Toulouse School of Economics, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She was also a research fellow at Brown University in the United States during her second year of PhD studies.

Harati worked as an economic consultant at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., on various projects for African and Middle Eastern nations, and also served as an advisor to former prime minister Saad Hariri, heading the international affairs unit.

Harati also opened Wild, a restaurant in Tulum, Mexico, where she was a partner until 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile.

After her move to the United Arab Emirates in 2022, she became director of government affairs at Emirati holding Majid Al Futtaim Group, one of the region’s largest conglomerates.

She then founded Kinz Consultancy, a consulting firm that offers geo-economic advisory services to policymakers and family offices.