Iraj Abedian is the founder and Chief Executive of Pan-African Capital Holdings (Pty) Ltd. He was professor of economics at the University of Cape Town, before joining Standard Bank Group in 2000 as Group Chief Economist. He obtained his BA (Honours) and MA in Economics from UCT. He received his PhD in Economics from Simon Fraser University in Canada in 1993. He was the founder and Director of the Applied Fiscal Research Centre (AFReC) at UCT and he has been a consultant on economics policy issues to public and private sector organizations in South Africa as well as internationally. His recent involvement in policy development in South Africa includes: The Transformation of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1995), the RDP White Paper(1995), Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR 1996), Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), and the Presidential Review Commission (PRC 1997). He is a prolific researcher and has written numerous articles and co-authored books such as:
Economic Growth in South Africa (Oxford University Press, 1992) Transformation in Action: Budgeting for Health Service Delivery (UCT Press, 1998) Economics of Tobacco Control; Towards an Optimal Policy Mix (SAMA Press, 1998) Economic Globalization and Fiscal Policy (Oxford University Press, 1998)
During September to December 1999, Dr Abedian was based at the IMF, Washington D.C., working on issues related to fiscal vulnerability assessment. In January 2000 he joined The Standard Bank Group at their head office in Johannesburg as Group Economist. He was appointed Director and Group Economist in April 2000, and was a member of the Standard Bank Group EXCO. From June 2003 to August 2004, he was an economic columnist for SOWETAN; a Johannesburg-based daily newspaper. In 2003, Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP) awarded him the title of Top Economist of the Year. He is an honorary Professor of Economics at Pretoria University, and serves the following organizations and companies: A member of the Board of Directors of Munich Re of Africa. (2005 to date) A member of Board of Directors of GlenRand MIB Ltd (Nov. 08 to date), A member of Board of Directors of Wesizwe Platinum Ltd (Nov. 08 to date) A member of Board of SA Tourism (June 2009 to date) A member of the Advisory Board of the Auditor General of SA Government Chairman: Board of Directors of Pangbourne Properties Ltd.(Oct 2007 to date) Chairman: Board of Directors of PBS (Pty) Ltd; and a director of AFReC (Pty) Chairman: Bigen Africa (Pty) Ltd (April 2009 to date)
