Ajay Banga

India's growth rate is the shiniest part in the global economy, World Bank president Ajay Banga said on Thursday, noting that a lot of this is driven by the domestic market. There is no doubt that India's growth rate is among the shiniest parts in the world economy. I think being able to grow at six, seven per cent and more in this kind of environment shows you that they've done a number of things to get there, Banga told reporters ahead of next week's annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A lot of that growth is in India, is driven by the domestic market as well, which actually is a healthy sign, in some ways. What India needs to work on as the prime minister laid out is things on quality of life, like air and the quality of water and the like, he said. We are actively engaged with them on a number of topics to do with these, and I think we will see more results of those coming out in the coming months in terms of projects, Banga said in response to

Banga said that the World Bank has already answered calls for its share of debt relief in restructurings by providing billions of dollars in additional grants

Earlier on Tuesday, Yunus called for repatriation of Rohingyas amid the "deteriorating" security situation in Bangladesh during a high-level meeting

His meeting with the CEOs is an effort to make sure that India remains a strong partner in possible manufacturing opportunities and in this case he was talking about semiconductors, he added

World Bank President Ajay Banga has increased balance sheet leverage and taken other capital adequacy measures to squeeze out an additional $10 billion to $12 billion

There was no shortage of stressors to the global economy when Ajay Banga took charge at the World Bank almost a year ago: inflation eating at nations drowning in debt, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, climate disasters and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Factor in the Israel-Hamas war and rising tensions between powerful nations, and today's agenda is even fuller as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their spring meetings in Washington this week. The world's intertwined challenges of poverty which clearly we have seen great setbacks over the past few years combined with fragility and conflict and violence, combined with climate change, is coming into a perfect storm, Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We need to put all of our efforts into this. Banga highlighted new initiatives being announced at the meetings, including plans to provide 300 million people in Africa with electricity by 2030 and 1.5 billion people worldwide with health care .

Ali Bhatt, Ajay Banga, Sakshi Malik, Dev Patel, Priyamvada Natarajan, Ajay Banga, Satya Nadella, and Jigar Shah named in Time's 100 most influential list

World Bank President Ajay Banga, Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Olympian wrestler Sakshi Malik and actor-director Dev Patel are among the Indians who have made it to the prestigious Times's list of 100 most influential people in the world released on Wednesday. Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2024' also includes US Department of Energy's Loan Programmes Office director Jigar Shah, Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics at Yale University Priyamvada Natarajan; Indian-origin restaurateur Asma Khan; as well as Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya. Time's profile of the former Mastercard CEO, written by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, said, It's not easy to find a leader with the skill and drive to take on the monumental task of transforming an essential institution, but since becoming World Bank president last June, Ajay Banga has done just that." She said Banga comes to the World Bank after leading a global ...

In addition to focusing the bank more on climate change and its consequences since taking over in June, Banga has often flagged what he sees as slowness and inefficiencies of the institution

World Bank President Ajay Banga on Tuesday batted for removing barriers to private sector investment, saying it is key to tackling challenges before the global economy as neither the governments nor multilateral banks have trillions of dollars in their coffers. Speaking to World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab in a podcast ahead of the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos next week, Banga said the immediate challenges before the world are conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine as also the debt situation in several emerging markets. In the longer term, the major challenges remain poverty and inequality as also those related to the environment, the former Mastercard chief said. Banga, also a member of the World Economic Forum's Board of Trustees, will be among the key global leaders at the five-day WEF Davos summit beginning January 15. Asked what could be the solutions to the problems of inequality and poverty, Banga said, "the best way to solve, aside from creating better

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met World Bank Group President Ajay Banga and discussed engagement of multilateral banks in various sectors in India. Sitharaman also discussed outcomes of G20 India Presidency and strengthening of the World Bank besides issues of mutual interest. "The Union Finance Minister stated that @WorldBank should take the lead in advancing recommendations contained in the Volume-I #TripleAgenda and the recommendations that #MDBs must be bigger, better and bolder as contained in the Volume-II, of the reports of the G20 Independent Experts Group #IEG, prepared under the #G20India Presidency, and added that other #MDBs look up to @WorldBank for such #reform initiatives," the finance ministry said in post on X. Independent Expert Group (IEG), appointed under India G20 Presidency, has recommended a triple agenda to harness the potential of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). The report suggested adopting a triple mandate of eliminating extreme

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced at COP28 that it will triple its climate lending to US$150 billion over the next decade

The new president of the Washington-based bank, Ajay Banga, is pushing ahead with plans to have employees work in the office four days a week by Sept. 5

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic caused extreme learning losses, World Bank President Ajay Banga said on Wednesday, underlining the need to devise a mechanism to prevent such situations before the next pandemic hits. "We have a real challenge for the generation which was undergoing schooling during the pandemic," Banga said, responding to a question by PTI. "Developed and developing countries were learning how to deal with it when we were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been extreme learning losses due to prolonged school closures during the period...and dealing with the learning losses is not just India's problem, it is an issue across the globe," he said. "My view is that we must learn now. We have to fix what we have got, pretty much make sure we learn before the next pandemic, devise a mechanism...or we will make the same mistakes again. The next one (pandemic) will come fore sure. It is a question of how long before it does come? To me that is the bigger ..

A panel appointed by Indian presidency of G-20 has estimated that $3 trillion is needed every year through 2030 for issues including debt relief to low-income countries and to fight climate change

The new steps, still being discussed with shareholder countries, come on top of initial steps approved in April that will boost World Bank lending by up to $50 billion over the next decade

World Bank president Ajay Banga on Monday said amid global challenges, he is more optimistic about India and its economy now than he has been "in a long time". Talking to the media on the sidelines of the third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting here, the first-ever Indian-American to head the top global financial institution said the world economy is in a difficult place. Banga (63) showered praises on India for its digital infrastructure, saying he is a "big fan" of such initiatives taken by the world's fifth largest economy. "I am more optimistic about India, as a whole, economically, than I have been for a long time. The fact is that the world economy is in a difficult place. It has outperformed what everybody thought. But it does not mean that it won't be more challenging. The IMF forecast, the World Bank forecast are that the world will get a little challenging over the next year or so," he said at the Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre, where the G20 ...

Yellen backs reforms to multilateral development banks

Banga said he will be visiting Delhi and will tell PM Modi during their meeting that he thinks this control and command centre is a great idea that can be put in other places in India and abroad

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