Top UK foreign office job for economist Kumar Iyer

As the chief economist, he will lead the FCO’s Economics Unit which provides in-house economic analysis input into foreign policy formulation, and also develops economics capability within the FCO through the Economics and Prosperity Faculty of the Diplomatic Academy.

Kumar Iyer, who served as Britain’s deputy high commissioner in Mumbai and in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit during Gordon Brown’s tenure, has been appointed chief economist of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Kumar Iyer, who served as Britain’s deputy high commissioner in Mumbai and in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit during Gordon Brown’s tenure, has been appointed chief economist of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). (Picture courtesy: FCO)

London-born Iyer, who grew up in India and the UK, has become the first member of the ethnic minority communities to join the FCO management board, an official statement said on Thursday.

As the chief economist, he will lead FCO’s Economics Unit which provides in-house economic analysis input into foreign policy formulation, and also develops economics capability within the FCO through the Economics and Prosperity Faculty of the Diplomatic Academy.

Iyer said: “I think living abroad during my early childhood gave me a sense of the world as a bigger place and I developed an interest in international issues that has always stayed with me. The role is a real privilege and marries my love of economics with my interest in global diplomacy”.

Besides roles in the public and private sector, since 2017 has been working part-time as a visiting academic at Hertford College, Oxford.