Ajay Banga has become the first-ever Indian-American to lead the World Bank, a position that US President Joe Biden says he will tackle with expertise, experience, and innovation. Biden believes that Banga will bring his transformative leadership to the World Bank, helping it to address global challenges such as poverty reduction and climate change. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also praised Banga’s ability to forge partnerships between the private sector, public sector, and non-profits, saying that he is uniquely equipped to help mobilize private capital and press for reforms that will meet our shared ambitions. Banga spent the past few months traveling the world and meeting with governments, shareholders, and stakeholders from both the private and philanthropic sectors.
Senior administration officials are confident that Banga will play a key role in steering the World Bank to evolve itself to address global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, fragility conflict, or effectively at greater scale. They believe that his track record of forging partnerships between the public and private sectors uniquely equips him to help mobilize private capital and press for the reforms needed to meet our shared ambition. Another senior official told reporters that it’s a really good day for the World Bank and for countries and people who seek to partner with the World Bank, particularly in a very difficult time for emerging and developing countries.
The nomination of Ajay Banga to lead the World Bank has been widely supported by shareholders. He is a business leader with decades of experience leading large global organizations forging public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change. While the World Bank will continue to play a key role in improving the lives of people around the globe, Banga’s track record of forging partnerships between the public sector and the private sector is uniquely equipped to help mobilize private capital and press for the reforms needed to meet our shared ambition.
