World Bank appoints new country director for Nigeria

The World Bank has appointed Ndiamé Diop as its new country director for Nigeria.

Mr Diop, who is a Senegalese, assumed his new position Tuesday. He is succeeding Shubham Chaudhuri who completed his term in the same capacity.

Prior to his assignment to Abuja, Mr Diop served as the World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, based in Manila.

In this position, he more than tripled the Bank’s financing to the Philippines to scale up the Bank’s support to key economic reforms (policy-based budget support programs) and the nation’s endeavours to bridge disparities in various sectors, including nutrition, stunting, healthcare, social protection delivery, education, agriculture, and digital connectivity.

In Malaysia, he supervised the delivery of a large Malaysia-funded knowledge program aimed at helping the country become a high-income economy through cutting edge economic analyses and technical assistance. Furthermore, he engaged the Thai government to resume World Bank investment lending after a pause of two decades.

“I am most excited to be leading the World Bank’s program in Nigeria, especially at this critical time when Nigeria has a significant opportunity to make progress towards improving its economy and delivering development outcomes for its citizens. I look forward to deepening our partnership with the Government of Nigeria at the Federal and States level by ensuring quality technical and financial support which will help accelerate progress for Nigeria’s development priorities,” said Mr Diop.

“Nigeria is a dynamic and vibrant country which is significant for the entire sub region. The World Bank Group is most committed to working with the Government, development partners and citizens to realize a thriving economy where jobs and economic prospects are created, and millions of Nigerians are lifted out of poverty.”

In his new position, Mr Diop will lead the World Bank’s team in Nigeria and deepen policy dialogue and partnership with the government and key stakeholders, the bank said. He will oversee the delivery and implementation of lending and non-lending support to Nigeria.

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Mr Diop has held several leadership positions in the World Bank which include, head of the macroeconomics, trade and investment unit for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, based in Jakarta and Bangkok, lead economist for Indonesia, based in Jakarta, lead economist roles for Jordan and Lebanon, country economist roles in the Middle East and North Africa.

He served as the Bank’s Resident Representative for Tunisia between 2007 and 2010. He joined the World Bank in Washington DC in 2000 as a young professional.

As an economist, Mr Diop, who has a doctorate degree, has published in peer reviewed journals and books on fiscal policy and growth, monetary policy and inflation, macro policies and resilience to sudden stops in capital inflows, natural resource abundance, Dutch disease, and economic diversification.