Victoria Kwakwa Appointed World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa – African Business

The World Bank has appoint Victoria Kwakwa as the new World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern AfricaThe new policy is effective immediately. Kwakwa, a development economist with over 30 years’ experience, will manage an active regional program, which includes a financing portfolio for more than 300 projects and extensive policy research.

Under Kwakwa’s leadership, the World Bank will continue to provide vital support to countries as they face a series of complex, multifaceted challenges including the fall-out from the COVID-19 crisis, increasing climate shocks, food- and energy-fueled inflation, and rising debt levels. She will focus on supporting economic recovery, transformation, private sector job generation, human capital development climate resilience, agricultural productivity, food security, and access to critical infrastructure. The World Bank will also work to reduce the factors that cause fragility and conflict, gender equality, and increase regional integration.

Kwakwa brings a wealth development experience to the role, having worked with countries in Africa and East Asia. In her most recent role as the World Bank’s Vice President for Corporate Strategic Initiatives, she worked closely with the World Bank Managing Director of Operations to enhance the Bank’s operational efficiency and impact. She also served as the Vice President for East Asia Pacific from April 2016 to September 2021, where she led the Bank’s engagement with 23 diverse clients on a wide range of development issues.

Kwakwa’s track record of putting people in the center of her work shows that she is committed to bringing new approaches and financing for development to help create a stable, integrated, resilient region with strong economies and prosperous communities where all citizens, including women, can enjoy equal opportunities. 

Kwakwa succeeds Hafez Ghanem who retired from the World Bank in June 2022.

Distributed by APO Group for The World Bank Group