The World Bank has selected former Senegal finance minister Makhtar Diop to lead the agency responsible for private sector finance at a critical time for the global recovery. He would be the first African to lead the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which leverages financing to support private firms in developing nations.
Diop, an economist who studied in Britain, worked in finance before entering government. He was named Senegal's minister of Economy and Finance in April 2000, a position he held for just over a year.
Finance chiefs from rich countries discussed ways to steer the global economy out of its worst slump since the Great Depression and agreed on the need to solve a tax dispute that has become a test case for U.S. re-engagement under new president Joe Biden. Britain, which is chairing the Group of Seven industrialised nations .