Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has congratulated Ajay Banga for his nomination by US President Joe Biden as the next President of the World Bank.
In series of tweets, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia hailed the nominee and spoke highly of his vast experience in the private sector and his passion for digital economy.
“Congratulations to Ajay Banga for his nomination by President Joe Biden as the next President of the World Bank. Born and raised in India, Mr. Banga is very familiar with the issues facing developing nations. His vast and rich experience in the private sector and his passion for all things digital make him an appropriate and exciting choice for developing countries in general and African countries in particular. Congratulations to you Mr. Ajay Banga.”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated former MasterCard Boss to become President of the World Bank. Mr Biden hailed Mr. Ajay Banga’s business experience in his native India and his commitment to mobilizing private funds to expand financial inclusion and help developing countries grapple with climate change.
Biden’s nomination of Banga, 63, a U.S. citizen, all but assures he will assume a job that oversees billions of dollars of funding, putting someone with close ties to emerging markets at the helm of the bank as it races to help developing countries address climate change and other pressing challenges.
“Ajay is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at this critical moment in history,” Biden said in a statement. “Raised in India, Ajay has a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing developing countries and how the World Bank can deliver on its ambitious agenda to reduce poverty and expand prosperity,” the President added.
Banga to Bring Decades of Experience to the Bank
Biden singled Banga’s decades of experience building global companies and building public-private partnerships to tackle urgent challenges such as climate change, and said Mr Banga has a proven track record working with global leaders.
Banga’s work in India and other emerging markets, his “obsession” with expanding financial inclusion, and his deep knowledge of new technologies could help bridge the growing divide between rich countries and emerging markets, said Luis Alberto Moreno, who worked closely with Banga while serving as president of the Inter-American Development Bank.
“He can really be a force for change,” Moreno said, noting that Banga enjoyed the trust of financial markets whose support was urgently needed to help raise the trillions of dollars needed to deal with global challenges.
If his nomination is confirmed, Mr Banga would replace David Malpass, who was nominated by former US President Donald Trump and indicated last month he would step down from the post by June this year – nearly a year before his five-year term was set to end.
David Malpass had been criticized by environmental advocates for being slow to direct the bank’s resources to address climate change. Last year, he was publicly rebuked by the White House after he said he did not know if fossil fuels were driving climate change, remarks for which he later apologized.
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