Q&A: World Bank Latin America chief on building back better after COVID-19

WASHINGTON — Carlos Felipe Jaramillo took up the post of World Bank vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean on July 1, although his move from Nairobi to Washington is on hold due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

Jaramillo, who is a Colombian citizen, spent the last eight years as the World Bank country director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda. His pivot back to working on Latin America comes as the region faces the worst impacts of the pandemic — something he sees as both a challenge and an opportunity.

“Aside from the short term, we really need to rethink the future of Latin America, and the bank is ready to help on that,” Jaramillo said. “It’s a very challenging situation. But at the same time, I think there’s many openings for countries to do exciting things so that when we recover, we rebuild better … so that there will be a more dynamic growth pattern coming out of it.”

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