World Bank nominee Ajay Banga wins backing from three Nobel laureates
Banga’s work on boosting farmers’ resistance to climate change praised
09 March 2023 - 21:59
byAndrea Shalal
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US nominee to head World Bank, Ajay Banga, stands with officials during his visit at the headquarters of Ivorian electricity company of Yopougon in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, March 7 2023. Picture: LUC GNAGO/REUTERS
Washington — Three Nobel laureates and dozens of civil society, climate change and philanthropic leaders on Thursday endorsed US President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the World Bank, former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga.
Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001, New America Foundation president Anne-Marie Slaughter and Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, were among the 53 people who signed a declaration backing Banga.
“Ajay Banga possesses a rare combination of leadership; track record of building successful alliances across the public, private, and social sectors; and experience working in developing countries,” they wrote. “He’s the right person to lead the World Bank at this critical moment.”
The declaration reflects growing momentum for the candidacy of Banga, an Indian-born US citizen who has won support from India, Kenya, Ghana and Bangladesh, and received positive reviews from France and Germany at last month’s meeting of Group of 20 finance officials.
Biden last month nominated Banga, 63, to replace David Malpass, who announced his resignation after months of controversy over his initial failure to say he backed the scientific consensus on climate change.
The signatories highlighted Banga’s work on an agriculture programme in Latin America aimed at strengthening the resilience of farmers to climate disasters, and a crop insurance programme he shaped with the World Food Bank and private partners.
“He understands that the World Bank must serve as a force multiplier by setting the right agenda and then catalysing action across governments, the private sector, multilateral development banks, civil society, and philanthropies,” they said.
No other contenders have been publicly announced, although Russia says it is consulting with its allies about nominating their own candidate, in a move that could slow progress towards the bank's goal of electing a new president by early May.
The World Bank has been headed by someone from the US, the lender’s dominant shareholder, since its founding at the end of World War 2.
A challenge from Russia or an allied country is unlikely to change the outcome, given the bank's shareholding structure. It could expose simmering tensions between the US and Western nations and China — the bank’s third largest shareholder — over the bank and other global financial institutions.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
World Bank nominee Ajay Banga wins backing from three Nobel laureates
Banga’s work on boosting farmers’ resistance to climate change praised
Washington — Three Nobel laureates and dozens of civil society, climate change and philanthropic leaders on Thursday endorsed US President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the World Bank, former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga.
Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001, New America Foundation president Anne-Marie Slaughter and Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, were among the 53 people who signed a declaration backing Banga.
“Ajay Banga possesses a rare combination of leadership; track record of building successful alliances across the public, private, and social sectors; and experience working in developing countries,” they wrote. “He’s the right person to lead the World Bank at this critical moment.”
The declaration reflects growing momentum for the candidacy of Banga, an Indian-born US citizen who has won support from India, Kenya, Ghana and Bangladesh, and received positive reviews from France and Germany at last month’s meeting of Group of 20 finance officials.
Biden last month nominated Banga, 63, to replace David Malpass, who announced his resignation after months of controversy over his initial failure to say he backed the scientific consensus on climate change.
The signatories highlighted Banga’s work on an agriculture programme in Latin America aimed at strengthening the resilience of farmers to climate disasters, and a crop insurance programme he shaped with the World Food Bank and private partners.
“He understands that the World Bank must serve as a force multiplier by setting the right agenda and then catalysing action across governments, the private sector, multilateral development banks, civil society, and philanthropies,” they said.
No other contenders have been publicly announced, although Russia says it is consulting with its allies about nominating their own candidate, in a move that could slow progress towards the bank's goal of electing a new president by early May.
The World Bank has been headed by someone from the US, the lender’s dominant shareholder, since its founding at the end of World War 2.
A challenge from Russia or an allied country is unlikely to change the outcome, given the bank's shareholding structure. It could expose simmering tensions between the US and Western nations and China — the bank’s third largest shareholder — over the bank and other global financial institutions.
Reuters
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