WASHINGTON — In 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank Board of Directors approved a reorganization for the nearly 60-year-old multilateral development bank. Among other changes, that effort created a vice presidency of sectors and knowledge mandated to use research and data to inform IDB lending.
Santiago Levy became the first to fill that role in 2008, shortly after he had joined the bank as chief economist. He was responsible for the quality of IDB’s analytical work, which was expanded and honed to make its lending and technical cooperation more impactful.
Levy said that he felt an obligation to ensure the work addressed the pressing issues impacting development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Challenges faced in the region and lessons learned from IDB projects can help inform development work around the world, he said.