IFC Managing Director, Makhtar Diop, Visiting Senegal for Talks on Strengthening and Boosting the Country’s Private Sector

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Dakar, March 22, 2022 - Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is visiting Senegal this week to underscore IFC's strong commitment to the country's development agenda, Plan Sénégal Emergent (PSE), and to reaffirm IFC's support for Senegal's private sector as a dynamic engine of job creation and economic growth.

A Senegalese national, Mr. Diop is making his first official visit to Senegal as IFC Managing Director. Following meetings with President Macky Sall and participation at the 9^th World Water Forum earlier this week, Mr. Diop remains in Dakar for talks with a broad range of stakeholders including senior government officials, leaders of the private sector, development partners and representatives of Senegal's creative industries, among others.

Mr. Diop's talks with public and private sector representatives will focus on IFC's strategy in Senegal and how IFC can deepen its support for the country's bold private sector growth agenda, including through market and job creation in the infrastructure, health, housing, tourism, agribusiness, digital, and financial sectors.

With growth projected to reach 5.5% in 2022, Senegal is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. The private sector has a central role to play in strengthening the country's post pandemic recovery.

IFC significantly ramped up its investments in Senegal in fiscal year 2021 with nearly $161million (CFA 96 billion equivalent) committed (including mobilization) compared to $75.6 million (CFA 45 billion equivalent) in fiscal year 2020. IFC is supporting vaccine production, digital infrastructure, renewable energy, manufacturing, and agricultural value chains in Senegal.

WHO:               Makhtar Diop, Managing Director, IFC - @Diop_IFC
WHEN:              Wednesday, March 23, 2022 – Friday, March 25, 2022                   
WHERE:           Dakar, Senegal

For media requests, please contact: In Dakar: Abdoul Maiga | amaiga7@ifc.org | + 221 776 38 29 41

About IFC
IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2021, IFC committed a record $31.5 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

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Makhtar Diop

Makhtar Diop is IFC's Managing Director. He assumed this position on March 1, 2021. Prior to this appointment, he was the World Bank's Vice President for Infrastructure, where he led the Bank's global efforts to build sustainable infrastructure in developing and emerging economies. In this role, he oversaw the Bank's critical work in energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and public-private partnerships.

Prior to this, Mr. Diop served for six years as the World Bank's Vice President for Africa, where he oversaw the delivery of a record-breaking USD$70 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa to help tackle development challenges such as increasing access to energy; boosting women's and youth's economic empowerment; and promoting an enabling environment for more innovation and technology adoption. A passionate advocate for Africa's right to clean and affordable electricity, he also called for greater investment in renewable energy and pushed for stronger regional interconnectivity in the power and transport sectors. He previously served as World Bank Director for Finance, Private Sector & Infrastructure in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region; Country Director for Brazil, where he helped finance major infrastructure work; and Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia.

Mr. Diop brings to the post a deep level of experience and understanding of development challenges and a firm grasp of the public/private sector interface. His main priorities will be to mobilize investments in the poorest and most fragile countries and create the conditions for a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable recovery. In addition to his international organization experience, Mr. Diop, an economist by training who started his career in the banking industry before joining the IMF and later the World Bank, has extensive private sector experience. He has also held government positions, most notably as Minister of Economy and Finance of Senegal, where he played a key role in instituting structural reforms that helped build a strong foundation for Senegal's growth in the late 1980s.

A recognized opinion leader in the economic and social development field, Makhtar Diop has been named one of the 100 most influential Africans in the world. In 2015, he received the prestigious Regents' Lectureship Award from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Diop holds degrees in economics from the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham in England.