IMF | METAC

Mr. Holger Floerkemeier: Director

Prior to joining METAC in September 2021, Holger Floerkemeier was Deputy Director of the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI). From 2013 to 2017, he worked as Deputy Division Chief in the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, leading the Regional Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) team. Having joined the International Monetary Fund in 2002, he has held positions in the African, the European, and the Middle East and Central Asian Departments, working on IMF-supported programs and surveillance relations in close to 20 member countries. Before joining the IMF, he was an assistant professor for statistics and empirical economic research at University of Freiburg, Germany, and worked in several roles in the market research field. Holger is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Ms. Nehmat Hantas: Financial Supervision and Regulation Advisor

Ms. Nehmat Hantas, a Lebanese national, joined METAC in January 2022. She has 25 years of professional experience in banking supervision with the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL). Prior to joining METAC, she was leading the offsite supervision division at BCCL. She has also established, in 2014, the macro-prudential and regulation department at BCCL. During her career in supervision, she played an active role in the development of supervisory tools, methodologies, local regulatory frameworks, and implementation supervisory guidelines in line with Basel, FSB, and IFRS standards and other international supervisory best practices. She was a member in core committees related to financial stability, supervisory strategy, and bank restructuring. She was also a speaker in several trainings delivered to supervisors in Lebanon and in the region. Nehmat holds a master’s degree in money and banking from the American University of Beirut.

Mr. Yasser Sobhi: Public Financial Management Advisor

Mr. Yasser Sobhi, an Egyptian national, joined METAC in November 2022, as Public Financial Management Advisor. He has been working with the IMF since 2017 in the public financial management division at the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), and was stationed as a resident advisor in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, supporting the Ministry of Finance in establishing a macro-fiscal policy unit. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Sobhi has worked at the Ministry of Finance in Egypt for twelve years as an economist, and then as a Deputy Minister of Finance for macro-fiscal policies, covering several fiscal policy and related public financial management issues. He is a fluent in Arabic, French and English. He studied economics at Cairo University and holds a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Mr. Jonas Frank: Public Financial Management Advisor

Mr. Jonas Frank, a German national, joined METAC on November 1, 2019. He has 20 years of professional experience on a wide range of PFM issues. Previously, he was Deputy Head of the Macroeconomic Support Division at the Swiss Secretariat of Economic Affairs, overseeing operations in MENA, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. He also worked for ten years at the World Bank, focusing on public investment management and fiscal decentralization, and co-led the Decentralization and Subnational Finance Thematic Group. Mr. Frank holds a Doctorate in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Potsdam (Germany).

Mr. Rosen Bachvarov: Tax Administration Advisor

Mr. Rosen Bachvarov, a Bulgarian national, joined METAC on July 1, 2023. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in the revenue administration of Bulgaria in the areas of stakeholder engagement and communications, also being directly involved in strategic and operational planning, compliance, risk management, digital services, project management and international cooperation on tax matters. Mr. Bachvarov has been providing short term capacity development advice as an expert for the European Commission’s TAIEX Program. He holds degrees from Sofia University and University of World and National Economy in Law and Marketing.

Ms. Sabine Corm: Tax Administration Advisor

Ms. Sabine Corm joined METAC in September 2023 as a Tax Administration Advisor. She has worked as an External Expert with the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department since 2020. Sabine has worked in the Lebanese Ministry of Finance for more than 20 years and for the past three years has been involved in the tax administration’s reform program. Sabine has extensive experience in tax administration and has worked with several international institutions in different countries in the Middle East, Gulf and North Africa regions. She holds a Higher Diploma in Specialized Postgraduate Studies (Diplôme D’études Supérieures Spécialisées DESS) in Auditing and Finance from the Lebanese University in partnership with the Francophone University Agency (AUPELF).

Mr. Andrew Allan: Customs Administration Advisor

Mr. Andrew Allan, a British national, joined METAC on July 18, 2023. He served 15 years with British Customs in cargo processing, passenger processing, anti-smuggling and investigations. He has been consulting on Customs and Trade Facilitation projects since 2001, often in fragile/ conflict affected states, gaining experience in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. He has assisted Customs Administrations of varied developmental advancement in their change processes, improving stakeholder capacities in core customs skills, enhancing revenue collection and compliance whilst also improving trade facilitation. Mr. Allan is a graduate of York St. John University, England

Ms. Elirjeta Pepaj: Real Sector Statistics Advisor

Ms. Elirjeta Pepaj, an Albanian national, joined METAC as Regional Advisor on national accounts and price statistics on October 6, 2023. Previously, she held the same position at the IMF’s Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center West 2 for five years. Prior to her appointment to the IMF, she was Real Sector Statistics Director in the Albanian Institute of Statistics. Ms. Pepaj has more than nineteen years of experience working on the production of national accounts, price, and business statistics. She has participated in and led numerous inter-institutional working groups on the development of macroeconomic statistics, drafting Memoranda of Understanding, and contributing to international projects for the implementation of 2008 SNA. Ms. Pepaj holds a Master of Science in European Economic Studies from the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana, Albania.

Mr. Peter El Sharoni: IMF Legal Department Regional Advisor for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)

Mr. Peter El Sharoni enjoys more than 18 years of experience in the fields of AML/CFT and banking supervision, He comes from the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) where he was an Executive Officer for Policy Development and Quality Assurance.  He was mainly responsible for overseeing and contributing to the work related to the development and review of the AML/CFT policies and ensuring quality and consistency of AML/CFT mutual evaluation reports, follow-up reports and technical documents. He also worked as a Short-Term Expert for the IMF and provided technical assistance to several countries in the Middle East.  He previously held the position of Assistant Manager in the Research and Strategic Analysis Department at the Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit (EMLCU) which was preceded by other roles at the EMLCU and the Central Bank of Egypt. He is also an instructor and speaker in various fora since 2005 and was an author of a number of specialized AML/CFT training programs. Peter holds both CBA (Certified Bank Auditor) and CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist) certificates.

Mr. Stefaan Ide: Central Bank Operations Advisor

Mr. Ide joined METAC in October 2022 as Central Bank Operations Resident Advisor. He previously was an IMF resident advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of Algeria and worked at the IMF’s South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) in Delhi as Monetary and Foreign Exchange Operations advisor. In the latter position, he provided technical assistance to the central banks in the South Asia region to modernize their monetary policy frameworks as well as providing training on monetary policy implementation. Before joining the IMF in 2016, he worked at the National Bank of Belgium’s Research & Economics Department with a focus on International Macroeconomics and on Monetary Policy Strategy and Implementation. He holds a degree from the KULeuven and Bocconi University.

Ms. Rana Hariz: Office Manager

Ms. Rana Hariz, a Lebanese national, joined METAC in November 2022 as Office Manager. She has more than 18 years of diverse professional experience in areas of office management, project management, research, auditing and reporting. In her last assignment, Rana worked with ESCWA as a consultant. Formerly, she was the Director of BPA Worldwide Middle East Regional Office in Dubai, which provides third party compliance services to defined government, industry, and organizational standards. Rana holds a degree in Banking and Finance with focus on economics and human development. She is fluent in Arabic, English and French.

Ms. Anastasia Janzer-Araji: Local Economist

Ms. Anastasia Janzer-Araji, a German national, joined METAC as a local economist on August 1, 2023. She previously worked as Economic Analyst at the World Bank's Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice for the Middle East and North Africa, were she conducted macroeconomic monitoring and forecasting of the Jordanian economy and supported various analytical activities and development lending operations. Prior to that, she held various positions at UN-ESCWA, the European Central Bank and EY. Ms. Janzer-Araji holds a degree in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Potsdam and a M.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.