Aus & NZ | Economic Update FY23

Besa Deda

Chief Economist at Westpac

Besa Deda is the Chief Economist of the Westpac Business Bank. She is also the Chief Economist of BT, St.George Bank, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA – which are other businesses within the Westpac Group.

Besa has been within the Group as a Chief Economist since 2009.  Besa is one of the Bank’s key economic spokespersons in the Group and is responsible for helping to formulate views and forecasts on the outlook for the economy, interest rates and currencies.  She manages a team of economists, gives regular presentations and often appears in the media reporting on economic conditions.

Prior to this role, Besa was with the Commonwealth Bank in specialised roles that covered fixed income, foreign exchange, macroeconomics and equities.  Besa was with the CBA for nearly 8 years and before that was an economist with the Colonial Group.

Besa is the Secretary and Deputy Chair for the Australian Business Economists’ Association. She is also a member of the Melbourne Economic Forum, and has previously written a regular property column for The Australian newspaper and lectured for Kaplan.