K.Y. Amoako

In his service as ECA’s Executive Secretary from 1995-2005, K.Y. Amoako’s vision was for the commission to better respond to African policy-makers and to amplify Africa’s voice internationally.

Dr. Amoako began his career in 1974 at the World Bank, becoming the Bank’s Director for Education and Social Policy from 1992 to 1995 before joining ECA.

Among many other assignments, Dr. Amoako chaired the Commission for HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, convened by Kofi Annan. He also served as a member of the Commission for Africa, established by Tony Blair. In addition, he was a member of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, chaired by Jeff Sachs, and of the Task Force on Global Public Goods, co-chaired by Ernesto Zedillo. More recently he was a member of the high-level panel on trade chaired by Professor Jagdish Bhagwati.

After ECA, he spent most of 2006 as a Distinguished African Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. In 2008, he founded the African Center for Economic Transformation, an economic policy institute with headquarters in Accra and working across Africa with the mission of supporting the sustained growth and transformation of African economies.

K.Y. Amoako holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Ghana, and a PhD in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. In recognition of his contribution to Africa’s development, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, by the Addis Ababa University in 2003 and a Doctor of Letters degree, honoris causa, by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2005.