Palesa Shipalana is an experienced economist with 15 years working experience in both public and private sector. In her position as the head of the Economic Diplomacy at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), she is responsible for guiding and overseeing the institute’s work on Africa’s position in the global economy from a public policy and research perspective. Before joining SAIIA Palesa was employed by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) as head of public policy and international affairs with a primary focus on developing African capital markets and their integration by interconnect 4 of Africa's biggest exchanges; implementing phase 1 of SADC's Interconnectivity project and developing a business case for the SADC Electronic Bond Platform. She has a firm grasp of macroeconomic policy issues in SA and the continent at large. Prior to joining the JSE, she worked for the South African government as an economist occupying various positions, including six years at the National Treasury responsible for public finance management, fiscal policy and SOE oversight management. She has recently completed comprehensive studies on a series of infrastructure financing studies; the impact of covid19 on financial stability in Africa; Green Finance mechanism for developing countries; work on the role of Stock exchanges in the region in domestic resource mobilisation; the use of digital financial services in promoting deeper financial inclusion in Africa; etc.