Makhtar Diop
Photographer: Paulo Fridman / Bloomberg
Photographer: Paulo Fridman / Bloomberg
The World Bank Group has appointed Makhtar Diop, former vice president, to head the International Finance Corp., making him the first African to lead the arm of the private sector development lender.
Diop, currently the World Bank’s vice president for infrastructure, will take over the IFC in early March, President David Malpass said in a statement Thursday.
Diop will help the World Bank “continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient and inclusive recovery,” Malpass said.
The Washington-based World Bank expects to spend as much as $ 160 billion in grants and financial assistance over 15 months through June to help countries cope with the health, economic and social shocks of the global pandemic.
Read more: How The IFC Responded to the crisis
Diop served six years as the World Bank’s vice president for Africa, overseeing a major expansion of the lender’s work and a record $ 70 billion in pledges, and previously as country director for Brazil and Kenya, Eritrea and Somalia, the world worked. Bank said. He is also a former Senegalese Minister of Economy and Finance.
Philippe Le Houerou, the previous head of the IFC, left at the end of September.