Person:
Prasad, Abha

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Last updated:November 24, 2025
Biography
Abha Prasad is the Program Leader for the Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) global practices for the Caribbean countries at the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean Region. In her current assignment she is responsible for advising the work program relating to macroeconomics, trade and investment, poverty, finance, competitiveness and innovation, and governance. She brings with her over 20 years of experience in developing countries and has worked across all regions of the World Bank, with extensive work in small states and subnationals. Prior to this she was the lead debt specialist and the Program Manager for the World Bank’s Debt Management Facility. She was supporting the Bank’s debt management advisory and technical assistance work program. Before joining the World Bank, she was the Director with the Reserve Bank of India, managing as part of an expert team the debt of India’s central and 28 state governments. She was actively involved in providing policy advice for framing India’s fiscal responsibility legislation. She holds a Master’s in Business Economics from the University of Delhi, India, and Master’s in Policy Management from Georgetown University, USA. Her publications among others include India’s state government debt, debt management in small states, operational risk management.

Publication Search Results

Now showing1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    360° Resilience: A Guide to Prepare the Caribbean for a New Generation of Shocks
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-27) Browne, Nyanya; Rozenberg, Julie; De Vries Robbé, Sophie; Kappes, Melanie; Lee, Woori; Prasad, Abha
    Caribbean countries, a set of mostly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), have a history of dealing with large shocks. The region is threatened by both economic and natural hazards. Nations have specialized in tourism and commodity exports, disproportionately exposing them to global economic cycles through changes in tourism demand and commodity prices. They are also located in a region that is highly exposed to a range of natural hazards, from volcanic eruptions to earthquakes and hurricanes, which damage their infrastructure stock, reduce tourism demand, and destroy agricultural production. Hazards have often caused severe damage to economies and livelihoods in the region. This report reviews existing assessments of past losses from natural and economic shocks in the Caribbean, looking at impacts on physical capital, private sector activity (especially tourism and agriculture), economic growth, poverty, and well-being. It concludes that, despite the damage to physical capital experienced by countries due to natural hazards (especially in housing and transport infrastructure), the impacts on growth are short-lived, possibly because many mechanisms are in place to help economies bounce back rapidly. However, natural hazards have a high impact on poverty and human capital and threaten the sustainability of economic growth.
  • Publication
    Small States : Performance in Public Debt Management
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-02) Prasad, Abha; Pollock, Malvina; Li, Ying
    This paper analyzes the status of public debt management performance in 17 small states through the findings of the Debt Management Performance Assessment reports. Empirical evidence indicates that the higher the quality of a country's policies and institutions, the better is its capacity to carry debt and withstand exogenous shocks. Borrowing for productive purposes can be an important element in boosting growth of gross domestic product but, conversely, excessive borrowing or poorly structured debt in terms of maturity, currency, or interest rate composition can quickly offset the positive impact, deter new foreign and domestic investment, compromise reform programs, depress growth of gross domestic product, exacerbate the challenge of meeting debt service obligations, and may induce or propagate economic crises. Arguments in favor of sound debt management are especially compelling for small states that must mitigate the particular risks to which their economies are exposed. Against this backdrop, the paper identifies aspects of debt management where small states do relatively well and those where they perform poorly, relative to other developing countries, and examines the underlying factors at play. It elaborates on some of the successful measures taken by small states to enhance debt management performance and considers how these may be applied more broadly in other small states. The paper offers a number of practical suggestions to strengthen debt management performance.
  • Publication
    Managing State Debt and Ensuring Solvency : The Indian Experience
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04) Rangarajan, C.; Prasad, Abha
    The paper presents the policymakers perspective on the reforms undertaken to manage states debt and ensure solvency. While the sustained high growth rates of the Indian economy played a part in alleviating the interest burden on debt and ensuring that the debt does not grow in an explosive trajectory, major reforms were implemented to reverse the fiscal decline, develop fiscal responsibility rules to ensure sustained adjustment, and move toward a market-based financing of state deficits. The serious efforts at fiscal consolidation and institutional reforms have enabled states to set on the path toward fiscal correction. Nonetheless, weak global growth prospects and the risk of a further rise in global commodity and fuel prices could generate the dilemma of needing to compress expenditures for ensuring fiscal sustainability while simultaneously needing counter-cyclical spending to boost growth, and challenge the fiscal adjustment process.
  • Publication
    Crisis Preparedness and Debt Management in Low Income Countries : Strengthening Institutions and Policy Frameworks
    (2010-07-01) Weist, Dana; Togo, Eriko; Prasad, Abha; O'Boyle, William
    The magnitude of the public liabilities incurred as a result of the unprecedented government action in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and the consequences of exiting from the projected high debt scenario, have become a major source of concern about a future sovereign debt crisis. As Low-Income Countries (LICs) face unique challenges in debt management (DeM) due to their more limited financing sources and higher capacity constraints, their ability to successfully manage their public debt burdens effectively through a crisis of this magnitude is far from assured. Therefore, the challenges of the last two years will require a re-evaluation of existing DeM strategies in LICs, focusing on the identification of institutional weaknesses and the assessment and mitigation of potential risk. It is in this context that this paper examines the application of two global public goods in LICs: the Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA) and the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) tools. The results of the application of these tools from 2007-2009 provide valuable information to policymakers and other stakeholders on the development of sound public DeM practices and analytical capacity, with the goal of strengthening the public balance sheet and reducing vulnerability to financial crises.
  • Publication
    Guidance for Operational Risk Management in Government Debt Management
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-03) Magnusson, Tomas; Prasad, Abha; Storkey, Ian
    Operational risk is defined as the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. In debt management operations, the categories of risks, such as market risk, credit risk, refinancing risk and liquidity risk, are relatively well known; however operational risk is not. The area has not been given due attention to by government debt managers in developing a risk management framework. A similar conclusion on aspects pertaining to operational risk management is borne out from the early results of the World Bank's assessments using its government Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA) tool. This paper thus, introduces the concepts of operational risk as applied to government debt management (DeM) and attempts to present a framework for debt managers to manage operational risks while undertaking public debt management operations. It draws on existing literature for operational risk management principles and practices that have been formulated by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) and the findings of the DeMPAs.