Bawumia congratulates new World Bank president

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.

Mr Biden on Thursday nominated former MasterCard Boss to become president of the World Bank.

President Biden hailed his 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.

In series of tweets, Vice President Dr Mahaumdu Bawumia said 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 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 Bawumia stressed.

Biden’s nomination of Banga, 63, now 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 better 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.”

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 he had 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.