World Bank appoints two vice presidents for Sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank announced on Wednesday as a sign of its strong commitment to Africa, its Sub-Saharan Africa regional portfolio will now be managed by two vice presidents, with one West and Central Africa and the other covering East and southern Africa.

Under the new arrangement Ousmane Diagana, a Mauritanian national, will lead the World Bank's strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in Western and Central Africa. Hafez Ghanem, an Egyptian and French national, and who previously served as the vice president for Africa, will become the vice president for Eastern and Southern Africa.

"We have two vice presidents, but we see Africa as one and will continue sharing lessons, expertise and ideas across the continent. Our commitment to Africa gets stronger every day, and I am thrilled to work alongside Ousmane Diagana to deliver even more resources to the people who need them the most," Ghanem said.

"I am honored to lead the Bank's efforts in West and Central Africa, with a strong focus on innovation, impact and transformation. Working together with Ghanem, I know we can and will do more to put countries and people first and find ways to confront today's development challenges using all the tools at our disposal," Diagana said.

The creation of an additional vice presidency is part of the World Bank Group's continuous efforts to align resources with priorities. This will help drive reforms and policies needed to achieve sustained and broad-based growth, alleviate poverty and raise living standards for people on the continent.

The changes are also expected to strengthen the World Bank's delivery of its Africa program and further improve its operational focus on regional portfolios to better support the transformational improvements that are possible in Africa.