Honorary Fellow Professor Benno Ndulu passed away

Professor Benno Ndulu was a leading African economist of his generation. An influential and innovative Tanzanian macroeconomist, Professor Ndulu inspired generations of Tanzanian and other African researchers in economics through his passion for teaching and research.

As an undergraduate at the University of Dar Es Salaam he undertook and published rural field research. After completing his doctorate in economics at Northwestern University (USA), he became lecturer and then professor at Dar Es Salaam, where he developed and shared his commitment to using technical modelling as a route to understanding the concrete realities of the Tanzanian economy.

This commitment also led him to become one of the initiators of the African Economic Research Consortium, one of the most effective research and training networks in Africa, where he was Research Director and later Executive Director. Throughout his career Professor Ndulu published widely on growth, adjustment, governance and trade.

After working as a Lead Economist at the World Bank, Professor Ndulu was appointed to serve as the Governor at the Central Bank of Tanzania from 2008 to January 2018. In 2018 he was appointed to the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Research Chair at the University of Dar es Salaam.

In 2019, he became Economic Advisor to President Cyril Ramaphosa and a member of the new Presidential Economic Advisory Council of the Republic of South Africa. Professor Ndulu was also Visiting Professor and Senior Advisor for Digital Pathways at the Blavatnik School of Public Policy at the University of Oxford.

In 1997, ISS awarded an Honorary Doctorate to Professor Ndulu in recognition of his contributions to Capacity Building and Research on Africa.

We remember Professor Benno Ndulu as a colleague and friend recognized within and outside Africa as an outstanding economist. His colleagues will remember him for his characteristic mix of critical clarity, generosity and his great sense of humour.   

Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and colleagues.