Erik Lundback is a senior economist and lead desk for Saudi Arabia in the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia Department and the lead author of the IMF policy paper “Economic Prospects and Policy Challenges for the GCC Countries – 2021.” His previous assignments at the IMF include leading the work on fiscal space in the IMF’s Strategy, Policy and Review department, leading Financial Sector Assessment Program and Capacity Development missions in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, as well as country surveillance work on various economies, including Nigeria, Portugal, and Switzerland. His analytical work has covered negative interest rates, fiscal space, macro-financial vulnerabilities and policies, stress testing, and external imbalances. Prior to the IMF he taught and conducted research as a post-doctoral scholar at Lund University, including publishing peer-reviewed articles on international trade and real effective exchange rates. Lundback has a PhD in economics from Lund University in Sweden.