Nirmala Sitharaman confident Ajay Banga will use corporate experience in pursuing World Bank goals

Nirmala Sitharaman confident Ajay Banga will use corporate experience in pursuing World Bank goals

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday exuded confidence that the incoming World Bank President Ajay Banga will utilise his corporate world experience in pursuing the goals of the multilateral lending agency.

Banga, 63, will take over as the President of the World Bank on June 2. He will succeed President David Malpass.

"Hearty congratulations Ajay Banga on being selected as the President of @WorldBank. I am confident that you'll bring your wide experience in the corporate world for meeting the goals of the Bank," Sitharaman tweeted.

The minister is currently in Incheon in South Korea to attend the 56th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Banga will be the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution.

"The Executive Directors of the World Bank today selected Ajay Banga as President of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023," the World Bank had said.

In February, United States President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history".

Banga, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2016, most recently served as Vice Chairman at General Atlantic. Previously, he was President and CEO of Mastercard, a global organisation with nearly 24,000 employees.