Kristina Popova Livrinski

from CQUniversity

Bio

I am an economist with over ten years of experience in the private and public sectors, specialising in economic analysis, policy evaluation, data-driven decision-making, and solving inefficiencies. I hold a BSc in Economics and a Master of Business Management degree and am currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Statistics. 

I am a Sessional Academic - Economics and Finance at CQUniversity. Before joining CQUniversity, I worked as a social impact consultant, covering strategy, policy, and reform design, as well as economic analysis and evaluation. I researched impact pathways, collected and analysed data, and built economic models to estimate program benefits across different sectors. This work has taught me to appreciate qualitative analysis where, for a change, outliers take centre stage.

I have held a senior role at a state development bank, where I designed financial instruments and support measures for SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. By transforming operations while mitigating risks, we increased processing capacity by 140 times, delivering financial support to over 7,000 SMEs and safeguarding thousands of jobs. With technical support from the IMF and the World Bank, we also developed and launched the first state-owned partial credit guarantee scheme, helping banks expand financing to the private sector and improving access to finance.

Previously, at the Ministry of Finance, I worked on implementing reform strategies, budgeting, stakeholder engagement, and policy evaluation, gaining a macroeconomic perspective and experience in regulatory impact assessments and fiscal policy design. My private sector experience includes financial analysis, business valuations, and management reporting, which has strengthened my business acumen and ability to translate economic insights into strategic decisions.

I love tackling challenges and making things work. I am dedicated to solving inefficiencies, optimising resources, and ensuring that insights lead to action. My curiosity and interdisciplinary thinking are my strengths. I connect the dots across disciplines and integrate economic and management insights, because the best answers are rarely found in isolation.

Areas of Expertise