David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, has announced Makhtar Diop’s appointment as Managing Director and Executive Vice President to head the International Finance Corporation.

This is according to a statement issued in Washington D.C. by the group on Thursday.

Diop’s appointment takes effect from March 1,” the bank said.

It also said the IFC was an arm of the group that advanced economic development and improved people’s lives by encouraging the private sector’s growth in developing countries.

“Makhtar Diop has deep development and finance experience and a career of energetic leadership and service to developing countries in both public and private sectors.

“His skills at IFC will help the WBG continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient, inclusive recovery.

“We need business climates and thriving businesses that attract investment, create jobs, and foster the scaling up of low carbon electricity and transportation.

“We also need clean water, infrastructure, digital services, and the wide range of development success that are key to our mission of poverty reduction and shared prosperity,” Malpass is quoted as saying.

The statement said Diop’s key responsibilities would be to deepen and energise IFC’s 3.0 strategy of proactively creating markets and mobilising private capital at a significant scale.

He will also need to deliver on the IFC capital package policy commitments, including increased climate and gender investments and support for FCV countries facing fragility, conflict, and violence.

(NAN)