ABUJA, July 8, 2024 - The newly appointed Country Director for Nigeria, Dr. Ndiamé Diop, assumed his new position today. He succeeds Shubham Chaudhuri, who completed his term in the same capacity.
Prior to his assignment to Abuja, Dr. 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 support key economic reforms and efforts to bridge disparities in sectors such as nutrition, healthcare, social protection delivery, education, agriculture, and digital connectivity. In Malaysia, he supervised a large knowledge program aimed at helping the country become a high-income economy through advanced economic analyses and technical assistance. Additionally, he engaged the Thai government to resume World Bank investment lending after a two-decade pause.
“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," said Dr. Diop. "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."
In his new role, Dr. Diop will lead the World Bank's team in Nigeria and deepen policy dialogue and partnerships with the government and key stakeholders. He will oversee the delivery and implementation of lending and non-lending support to Nigeria.
Dr. Diop has held several leadership positions within the World Bank including Head of the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment unit for Southeast Asia and the Pacific; Lead Economist for Indonesia; Lead Economist roles for Jordan and Lebanon; Country Economist roles in the Middle East and North Africa; and 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, Dr. Diop has published in peer-reviewed journals and books on topics such as fiscal policy and growth, monetary policy and inflation, macro policies and resilience to sudden stops in capital inflows, natural resource abundance, Dutch disease effects on economies with abundant natural resources but underdeveloped industries),and economic diversification.