Press Release

INSULAR AFFAIRS HIRES “GREENSPAN OF THE PACIFIC”

WASHINGTON – Economist Wali Osman, the man whom long-time Honolulu Advertiser columnist Bob Krauss once dubbed the “Greenspan” of the Pacific, has accepted an offer to join the Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. Osman, formerly the Bank of Hawaii Senior Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, will move to Washington, D.C. by early March in order to begin his new job.

“Osman will be a tremendous addition to our team,” said Lynn Scarlett, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget. “The Administration has made economic development a top priority for the territories, and I can’t think of a better person than Wali to contribute to that effort.”

“In island circles, this is like Alex Rodriguez joining the Yankees,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David B. Cohen. “Fortunately, we don’t have to pay him as much.”

“Wali’s reputation as an expert on Pacific economies is second to none,” said Office of Insular Affairs Director Nikolao Pula. “The economic reports that he has prepared over the years rank up there with the most authoritative, respected work that has ever been done on the Pacific territories. He is one of the most frequently quoted authorities on economics in the Pacific and one of the most sought-after speakers on the subject.”

Osman studied at Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan and was awarded the Bachelor of Science degree in 1974. He received his Masters of Science in Resource Economics in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Resource Economics in 1986 both from the University of Hawaii. Osman began his long association with the Bank of Hawaii in 1981 as an economist, remaining with the bank until 1990. He was Director of Research and Marketing for the Honolulu firm of Monroe and Friedlander until 1991 and served as a consultant with New Vision Management until 1994. He returned to the Bank of Hawaii to serve as Vice President and International Economist from 1994 through 2001, when he took his most recent position at the East-West Center.

Bob Krauss, a columnist for the Honolulu Advertiser for over 50 years, had high praise for Osman in a recent column. “Wali Osman is to the South Seas what Alan Greenspan is to the United States, its ultimate economic guru,” wrote Krauss. He continued later: “In a nice way, he tells South Pacific political and business leaders things they would just as soon not hear....Osman can get away with this because he serves a purpose invaluable to the people he talks to. His Bank of Hawaii economic reports are by far the best information anywhere on their islands.”

Located within the Office of Policy, Management and Budget, the Office of Insular Affairs administers the Federal Government’s relationship with the territories of Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Office of Insular Affairs also administers economic assistance, under the Compacts of Free Association and otherwise, to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau and provides technical and capital assistance to the insular areas.

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