New World Bank President Calls for Faster Project Execution and Focus on Climate Change

The new president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, elected to the position on May 3, has called for speed up project approval times of the institution while addressing global issues such as climate change.

The new president has described the current process of identification and approval of “too complex” and expensive. “The bank itself must evolve,” Banga summed up after explaining that “we have a lot of challenges and a lack of time.” Banga has demanded these changes in a statement to which he has had access BloombergNews on the occasion of his first day at the head of the organization and that has been shared with the bank’s staff.

“The challenge for the World Bank is clear. […] must pursue both climate adaptation and mitigation, and must reach low-income countries without neglecting middle-income countries, while having a global approach, but taking into account national and regional needs. You must take risks, but do so prudently”, he added, according to Europe Press.

Profile

Banga, a 63-year-old businessman of Indian origin who became a US citizen in 2007, was a former vice president of General Atlantic and Former Chairman and CEO of Mastercard. Banga was the only candidate to preside over the body after being nominated by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and after the World Bank confirmed his aptitude to run.

In this way, after accessing the World Bank, he will also head the executive council of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Likewise, he also chairs ‘ex officio’ the board of directors of the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and, also, the board of directors of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Banga was officially endorsed by Biden last February just a week after the former head of the World Bank, David Malpass, announced his intention to leave office before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Malpass was in charge of the institution for more than four years.

With Banga’s election, the White House upholds the unspoken agreement between the United States and the Western European powers that the presidencies of the World Bank and the IMF are shared since the creation of both institutions in 1944 at the Bretton Woods international conference.