President Joe Biden Nominates Ajay Banga To Head World Bank

WASHINGTON: Ajay Banga, an Indian-American business executive, was unexpectedly nominated by US President Joe Biden on Thursday to lead the World Bank. Biden praised Banga's expertise in creating public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change.

Banga earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Economics from St. Stephen's College at the University of Delhi before completing a PGP in Management at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

Banga was born in the Pune cantonment of Khadki on November 10, 1959. In 2016, the Indian government gave Banga the Padma Shri, a civil honour.

The World Bank revealed on Wednesday that it anticipates naming a successor to David Malpass, who announced his departure last week, by the beginning of May.

With the institution undergoing a significant set of reforms to better address climate change and other serious concerns facing developing countries, Banga's nomination by the United States almost guarantees that he will take on a role that supervises billions of dollars in funding.

Samantha Power, the head of the United States Agency for International Development and a former ambassador of the United States to the UN under President Barack Obama, Rajiv Shah, a former administrator of USAID under Obama who is currently the head of the Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria, were other candidates for the prestigious position.

Additionally, Biden highlighted Banga's expertise in bringing together public and private resources to address pressing issues like climate change at a variety of organisations.

Malpass announced that he would leave by early June, months before his term will expire in April 2024.

Malpass' resignation comes months after calls for him to resign mounted as a result of his refusal to accept the scientific consensus that fossil fuels were responsible for global warming.

Climate activists criticised Malpass in September after he declined to say if he agreed with the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels was dangerously warming the globe at a climate panel, according to CNN. The 187-nation World Bank provides loans to developing nations in an effort to fight poverty.

Malpass was selected to lead the World Bank in 2019 by former US President Donald Trump for a five-year term.

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