Dr. Dirk Schumacher has been Chief Economist of KfW and Director of Economics since April 2025, heading KfW Research in Frankfurt. Previously, he was Head of European Macro Research at Natixis CIB from 2018 to 2025 and Principal Economist at the European Central Bank in 2017. Before that, he spent many years at Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt and London in a range of senior economist roles, including Managing Director and Chief Economist for the German-speaking countries. He began his career at Commerzbank in Frankfurt in Economic Research and Asset Management. Dr Schumacher studied Economics, Philosophy and Physics at the University of Bonn and completed his doctorate in Economics at the Centre for Financial Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt.