Former Senegalese Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Makhtar Diop, has been appointed the Vice President of the World Bank (WB) for Africa, the bank said in a statement obtained by PANA here.
Mr. Diop, who will be the first francophone African to hold the position, will assume office in May, replacing former Nigerian government minister Obiageli Ezekwesili, whose departure has been announced by the World Bank President, Mr. Robert Zoellick.
The Senegalese has been serving, since 2009, as the director of operations at the World Bank in Brazil, where he manages the largest portfolio of the institution, with loans reaching US$3 billion a year.
Mr. Diop, who joined the World Bank in January 2002 as Operations Director for Kenya, Eritrea and Somalia, left his post as head economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington to become his country’s Minister of Economy and Finance between 2000 and 2001
