Bas B. Bakker is the division chief of the Latin Caribbean division in the Western Hemisphere department and the mission chief for Panama. He joined the IMF in 1993. He has worked in four different departments, including as head of the IMF’s regional office for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe in Warsaw, head of the Emerging Europe Regional division, and mission chief for Bulgaria, Israel, Austria, Paraguay, Jamaica, and St Kitts and Nevis. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He is married with three kids.