Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and former president of the Central Bank (BC), Ilan Goldfajn was nominated for the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The appointment was made official by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, who is the titular governor of the financial institution.
In a public note, the Ministry of Economy informed that the ministry, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will make arrangements for Brazil to assume the presidency of the IDB for the first time since the creation of the bank. Currently, Brazil is the second largest shareholder in the IDB, second only to the United States.
“Minister Paulo Guedes considers that the candidate has a wide and successful professional experience in the public sector, in multilateral organizations and in the private sector, in addition to a solid academic background, which unequivocally qualify him for the exercise of the position of president of this important institution” , the statement said.
The deadline for candidacy for the position of president of the IDB is November 11, and the election is scheduled for November 20. With 48 member countries, the IDB is the main funder of infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2021, the institution approved US$ 23 billion in financing in the region.
Currently director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ilan Goldfajn headed the Central Bank of Brazil between 2016 and 2019. Between 2000 and 2003, he was director of Economic Policy at the same institution.
The election at the IDB takes place after the departure of the American Mauricio Clavier-Carone. Appointed to preside over the institution by former President Donald Trump, Clavier-Carone was removed in a meeting of governors on September 26, on charges of having intimate relations with an employee and retaliating against employees who denounced the relationship. The bank is under the temporary command of Honduran Reina Irene Mejía, vice president of the organization.
