Priya Basu is a global health and development finance executive with nearly three decades of leadership at the intersection of pandemic preparedness, health systems, innovative finance, strategic partnerships and resource mobilization. She is the founding Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund at the World Bank, where she has led the Fund’s design and operationalization from the ground up -- establishing its governance, delivery architecture, and financing model, to enable rapid scale up. Under her stewardship, the Fund has already mobilized $3 billion in seed capital and awarded grants that have catalyzed more than $6 billion in co-financing and co-investments to strengthen pandemic preparedness in over 75 low- and middle-income countries. Priya has played a pivotal role in aligning diverse stakeholders—including donor and client governments, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, civil society, and the private sector—positioning the Fund as a key driver of collaboration.
During the pandemic, she led the Multilateral Leaders Task Force on COVID-19 (World Bank Group, IMF, WHO, WTO) improving data and transparency on medical countermeasures to support the policy response. She also spearheaded the World Bank’s engagement on pandemic preparedness and response with the G20 and G7, coordinating across finance and health.
Previously, Priya led the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, advancing women’s economic empowerment globally. Prior to that, as Manager of the World Bank’s $21 billion portfolio of trust funds and partnerships, she shaped investments in global public goods – from health and food security to climate. She helped design and scale pioneering health financing mechanisms, including the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm) and the AMC for pneumococcal vaccines, played a key role in establishing the GFF and CEPI, and represented the Bank as Trustee on the boards of the Global Fund, GAVI, CEPI and the Global Environment Facility, among others.
Earlier, as the World Bank’s Lead Financial Economist for India, she helped expand the Bank’s finance and private sector portfolio tenfold—from $500 million to $5.5 billion—pioneering innovative public-private partnerships and policy reforms to advance inclusive financial systems, private sector-led growth and job creation.
Prior to the World Bank, Priya worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, the Asian Development Bank in Manila, and UNCTAD and International Labour Organization in Geneva. Before that, she worked in investment banking in London.
Priya brings deep policy and operational experience across world regions, strategic agility, and thought leadership to solving complex development challenges. She is the author of several blogs, articles in refereed journals, and books, including Creating Resilient Financial Regimes in Asia: Challenges and Policy Options (Oxford University Press), India’s Financial Sector: Recent Reforms, Future Challenges (Macmillan), and Improving Access to Finance in India (World Bank).
A respected voice in global health and development finance, Priya has helped shape international policy on health and crisis financing through influential platforms such as the G20, G7, and IDA.
Priya holds a first class B.A (Hons.) degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and a B.A (Hons.)/M.A in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics and postgraduate degrees in development economics from Merton College, Oxford University, U.K.
