US Nominee Ajay Banga Elected As President By World Bank Board

The World Bank's 25-member executive board chose Ajay Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard, to lead the organisation for a five-year term beginning on June 2, the bank announced. Banga is an Indian-born finance and development expert tasked with modernising the bank to address climate change and other global crises.

The 63-year-old Banga was the only candidate for the position when it was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in late February. David Malpass, an economist and former U.S. Treasury official who worked in the Trump administration, was stepping down as the head of the World Bank.

Banga was interviewed by World Bank board members for four hours on Monday before the election. June 1 will be Malpass's last day working at the bank. Instead of the customary consensus-based procedure, the decision was made by a vote of 24 of the board members, with Russia abstaining, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.

After numerous discussions with board members over the past few weeks and Monday's formal interview, sources familiar with the process had predicted Banga would easily earn the board's approval, according to reuters.

According to one of the insiders, Banga is a "true change maker" who will hasten the global development bank's reforms. Though it has already provided hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to developing nations, it is actively working to increase its lending to support those nations as they tackle global issues like climate change.

"The Board looks forward to working with Mr. Banga on the World Bank Group Evolution process, as discussed at the April 2023 Spring Meetings, and on all the World Bank Group's ambitions and efforts aimed at tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries," the bank said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters, if Banga is approved, recruiting additional private finance for development goals will be a major area of attention.

According to a person familiar with the situation, Biden declared Banga's candidature when Yellen was attending a gathering of Group of 20 finance officials in Bengaluru, India. She and her top travelling aides started pitching Banga's candidature to their colleagues as soon as it was made public, the person claimed.

The World Bank has had an American as its president since its establishment at the end of World War II, whereas the International Monetary Fund has a European as its president. Since 2007, Banga has been a citizen of the United States.

Since being appointed, Banga has held meetings with representatives of 96 different governments, the source claimed. He travelled a total of 39,546 miles (63,643 km) during a three-week world trip, stopping in eight nations to meet with business and civil society leaders.