Zulima Leal

Zulima Leal serves as the Interim Head of Strategy, Planning, and Knowledge, overseeing the implementation of the institutional strategy and leading the development of strategic priorities across key sectors, including industrial parks, corporate mobility, critical minerals, data centers, and the strengthening of operations for water utilities. Zulima also expands institutional knowledge of the US-MX border, strengthens the Bank’s strategic position, and provides strategic direction to support business decisions and policy positions for the Management team.

Zulima leads a multidisciplinary team, works collaboratively across departments, and has served on the Bank's committees, ensuring the financial soundness of private and public operations, portfolio execution, and systems integration.

Zulima is an economist with over 15 years of experience working in multilateral organizations, government agencies, and the private sector on macroeconomic and environmental issues, policy advice, and development effectiveness topics across developing economies. She has led economic and policy advice and mobilized USAID resources for countries undergoing macroeconomic and fiscal challenges in Angola, Malawi, Ethiopia, and the Maldives. She has also led scenario design across portfolios in Latin America, the Middle East, and African economies at Citibank, has extensive experience monitoring and providing policy advice on sovereign-guaranteed operations, and conducting macroeconomic analysis for Andean countries (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela) for the Interamerican Development Bank, and performing macroeconomic surveillance and forecasting for the Western Hemisphere at the International Monetary Fund.

Zulima is a US citizen and holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Puerto Rico.