The Governing Council of IFAD has appointed Alvaro Lario as the 7th President of IFAD following a special session. He will take office on 1 October 2022 for a four-year term.

Alvaro Lario is the Associate Vice President for Financial Operations and Chief Financial officer at IFAD since 2018. Under his leadership, IFAD became the first United Nations Fund and the only UN body and specialized agency other than the World Bank Group to enter the capital markets and obtain a credit rating, enabling the Fund to expand resources mobilization efforts to the private sector.

The President-elect will lead IFAD at a crucial time, as COVID-19, climate change, and conflict converge to result in rising food and fuel prices. This in turn could lead to a global food crisis, with the world’s poorest rural people likely to be hardest hit.

IFAD plays a crucial role in increasing the resilience of rural small-scale producers. The Fund’s investments in climate adaptation and sustainable food systems are helping to achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals.