On Thursday, 18 February 2021, the World Bank (WB) announced the appointment of Makhtar Diop as Managing Director and Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The mission of this WB subsidiary is to promote economic expansion and improve people’s living conditions by promoting the growth of the private sector in developing countries.
“I am honoured to have been named Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Committed to helping our customers overcome the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. By supporting the private sector, we will help improve the living conditions of as many people as possible,” said Senegalese economist Makhtar Diop. He was appointed Thursday, February 18, to head the IFC. An appointment that will take effect as of March 1, 2021. Makhtar Diop has to his credit, says World Bank Group President David Malpass, extensive experience in development and finance and a career marked by energetic leadership and service-orientedin relation to developing countries, both in the public sector and in the private sector.
“It will provide IFC with expertise that will help the World Bank Group continue to act swiftly to address the global crisis and continue to work towards a green, resilient and inclusive recovery. We need a supportive environment and thriving businesses to attract investment, create jobs and support the deployment of low-carbon electricity and clean transportation, clean water, digital infrastructure and services, and to contribute more broadly to the overall development progress that is essential to our mission of poverty reduction and shared prosperity,” Malpass said in a World Bank statement released.
Makhtar Diop’s main mission will be to deepen and stimulate the IFC’s “3.0” strategy, which aims to foster the creation of new markets and mobilize large-scale private capital, and implement the commitments made under IFC’s capital increase program. These commitments include increased investments in climate and gender equality, and increased support for countries in situations of fragility, conflict and violence.
It will also have the task, according to the document, of strengthening the links between IFC, IBRD/IDA and MIGA, helping to accelerate the World Bank Group’s efforts to boost the development of its client countries. IFC’s Strategy 3.0 includes taking more proactive action. that is, by intervening at an earlier stage in the project development process to create the conditions for mobilizing private sector solutions and unlocking new investment opportunities. It also plans to extend the impact of IFC to the poorest and most fragile countries, with the aim of tripling its annual investments for its own account in those countries.
Former Minister of Economy and Finance of Senegal, Mr. Diop is currently Vice President of the World Bank for Infrastructure. He had previously served for six years as World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region. He has also served as World Bank Director of Operations for Brazil and previously for Kenya, Eritrea and Somalia. He started his career in the banking sector and has a strong command of the public/private interface as well as direct experience of structural reforms in support of the private sector, acquired in particular as part of his duties as Minister of Economy and Finance of Senegal. A former economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he also headed the Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure Department of the World Bank’s Latin America and Caribbean Region.
Recognized for his leadership in development, Mr. Diop has been named one of the 100 most influential Africans in the world. In 2015, he received the prestigious University of California (Berkeley) Regents’ Lectureship Award. He has a degree in economics and finance.
