John Sfakianakis

John Sfakianakis is the Chief Economist of the the Gulf Research Center in Geneva and Dubai. Until August 2011 he was Chief Economist of Banque Saudi Fransi.

John has also served as SABB's (Saudi British Bank) Chief Economist in Riyadh. He publishes frequently on Saudi economic and trade issues as well as issuing the first business confidence index report by a Saudi-based bank. He regularly contributes articles for the international and local printed media.

Prior to joining SABB, John was the Chief Regional Economist for Samba Financial Group where he wrote and commented on Saudi and regional economic affairs. He also worked for the United National Development Program (UNDP) seconded at the Ministry of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia where he served as part of the 8th planning team for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has also worked for the World Bank as an economist.

John is a frequent commentator on regional and international news channels such as Al Arabiya, BBC, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg.