- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The US has backed Indian-American business leader Ajay Banga as an exceptional candidate who is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at a critical moment as the global financial institution plans to formally announce his appointment as its president.
In February, president Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is well equipped to lead the global institution at “this critical moment in history.”
On March 31, The World Bank closed a month-long window for nominations for its next president, with no alternatives announced to 63-year-old Banga, who was born in the Indian city of Pune.
Banga is the only applicant for the position of president of the World Bank, the global financial institution said.
“He (Banga) is uniquely equipped to lead the World Bank at such a critical moment, and he’s an exceptional candidate,” Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson at the US state department told reporters at his daily news conference on Friday (21).
“His leadership skills and management experience, his experience in the financial sector, will help achieve the World’s Bank objectives by eliminating extreme poverty, and expanding prosperity, while also doing so in a very evolving and dynamic global playing field, where we’re dealing with a lot of new and pressing issues and challenges, like climate change and global health challenges and other things as well,” Patel said.
The former Mastercard Inc chief, Banga currently serves as vice chairman at General Atlantic.
A new leader of the World Bank is expected to be chosen by early May.
Raised in India, Banga 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, Biden had said.
He has also worked closely with vice president Kamala Harris as the co-chair of the Partnership for Central America.
He was awarded India’s prestigious Padma Shri Award in 2016.
Banga is expected to take over the reins of the anti-poverty lender at a crucial time, with the US and Western nations pitching for reforms to focus on addressing a slew of wide-ranging global issues like climate change.
(With PTI inputs)
