Makhtar Diop was born in Dakar in 1960 and graduated in Economics from the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham in the UK. He also studied finance at the Paris ESLSCA Business School. He started his career in the banking sector, prior to joining the IMF and subsequently the World Bank. He has also held government positions, including as Minister of Economy and Finance in Senegal from 2000 to 2001.
In May 2012, he was appointed World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region. From 2009 to 2012, he held the positions of World Bank Country Director for Brazil, where he managed the institution’s largest portfolio. Prior to taking up these positions, he was successively Director of Strategy and Operations, and Sector Director for Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure, both in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Between 2002 and 2005, he was the Bank’s Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia, based in Nairobi.
In 2014, Jeune Afrique named Makhtar Diop as “one of the 50 most influential Africans” in the world and he is recognized as being an opinion leader in the field of economic and social development. African Business named him among the 100 most influential personalities in Africa in 2014 and 2015. In March 2015, he received the Regent’s Award from the University of California, Berkeley, a prestigious award acknowledging the work of internationally-renowned experts.