The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
BLOOMBERG
President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the World Bank called on private-sector lenders to increase efforts to fight poverty across world, citing the need for trillions of dollars in lending that public institutions alone can’t meet.
The World Bank needs to leverage its current balance sheet and maximize existing resources, but the total resources of development banks are in billions of dollars, short of what’s needed to boost prosperity and deal with rising challenges, said Ajay Banga, a former Mastercard Inc. chief whom Biden nominated last month.
“There is not enough capital in either the multilateral development banks or governments or in philanthropy; we do need to get the private sector to be part of this story,†Banga said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power.
The World Bank must protect its AAA rating, Banga said, citing credit grade as core to bank’s model of borrowing and lending at lowest possible rates and providing grant assistance.
Banga has co-led the Partnership for Central America, an initiative launched by Vice President Kamala Harris to marshal private-sector support for the region aimed at creating more economic activity and jobs, with contributions of more than $4 billion across about 50 companies and organisations.
The 63-year-old nominee is on a three-week journey of both creditor and borrower nations, with further stops planned in countries in Europe and Latin America, to build support for his nomination to lead World Bank.