Soraya Azhar

Soraya Azhar is a Financial Sector Specialist at Malaysia’s World Bank Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Finance Hub. Since joining the Bank in early 2023, she has contributed to various analytical work on sustainable, inclusive, and Islamic finance in Malaysia, East Asia, and the Pacific region. Most recently, she led the analytical work on the World Bank report “Tracking Progress: Impact Monitoring of Social Finance.” 

Before joining the World Bank Group, Soraya worked at Bank Negara Malaysia for over ten years and specialized in financial supervision, sustainable finance development, and global financial safety net. In Bank Negara Malaysia, she led the development of the Green AgriTech program to facilitate the transition into sustainable agriculture practices and build resilience in climate change for smallholder farmers in Malaysia. 

Soraya holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University, USA, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia.