Even before officially taking up the role as 14th president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga embarked on a world tour to gain first-hand knowledge of what is happening on the ground in many of the bank’s 189 member countries. The tour continued after starting his five-year term on June 2 and, to date, he has met around 90 governments, 100 civil society organisations and 20 CEOs of various asset managers and pension funds.
In an interview with The Banker in late November, Mr Banga outlined three major themes he observed during his travels. First, while the World Bank had been effective in focusing on poverty for the past four decades, multiple crises — the Covid-19 pandemic, worsening climate events, the war in Ukraine, and conflict in parts of Africa and the Middle East — have intersected to set back the gains that had been made.
