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SA should be worried about incoming World Bank President Ajay Banga: Expert

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Economist Patrick Bond says countries such as South Africa should get worried about the incoming World Bank President, Ajay Banga.

The United States President Joe Biden nominated the former CEO of Mastercard after David Malpass announced his decision to leave.

During his tenure at Mastercard, Banga introduced and oversaw a deal with the South African Social Security Agency and Net1, to use Mastercard debit cards for grants distributions.

The World Bank is the partial owner of Net1 whose main subsidiary is Cash Paymaster Services. The Net1-CPS debit orders controversy led to the termination of the contract.

This after grant recipients’ accounts were drained to a point at which they had little or no funds each month.

Related video, SA borrows over R11 billion from World Bank:

 

Bond says Banga’s predatory-financing history should be investigated before he’s allowed to take office.

“They basically looted poor people’s accounts by putting on debit orders you know six-year-old girls getting microfinance or cellphone contracts or death insurance all those sorts of things. I think it’s a broad philosophy, which is that if you have a problem like poverty, you can solve it by financial engineering, and calls it financial inclusion.

The problem is the financial engineering and this is his philosophy that he’s bragged about as he’s become the World Bank President, that he’s got the ingenuity to know how. What we are worried is that this boils down to predatory banking.”

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