World Bank appoints Roberto Zagha as Director for India

NEW DELHI: The World Bank on Friday announced the appointment of Roberto Zagha as the new Country Director for India.

Zagha, a Brazilian national, replaced Isabel Guerrero, who is now World Bank's Vice-President for the South Asian region, the multilateral funding agency said in a statement.

In his new position, Zagha's priorities will be to shape the Bank's support to India in the context of the recent global financial turbulence, it said.

He will provide leadership to the teams formulating and delivering the Bank's new Country Strategy for India for 2009-12.

The strategy focuses on helping the country to fast-track the development of much-needed infrastructure and to support the seven poorest states, which are home to more than half the country's population, it added.

The strategy currently envisages lending of USD 14 billion for the next three years, of which USD 9.6 billion will be from IBRD and USD 4.4 billion from IDA.

Zagha was previously Senior Advisor to the World Bank's Vice-President in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit.