As tariffs and geopolitical turbulence batter global trade, the head of the world’s largest development institution says the biggest emerging market opportunities barely depend on global trade at all.
In an interview published on Monday with Indian entrepreneur podcaster Nikhil Kamath, World Bank President Ajay Banga — the former Mastercard CEO who now oversees what he describes as “$120-odd billion that gets put into the marketplace every year” laid out five sectors he believes will drive growth across the developing world.
The Five Sectors
Infrastructure anchors Banga’s list — roads, bridges, airports, power, and water as the base on which everything else is built. Smallholder agriculture is second, focused on keeping farmers productive and on their land rather than fuelling urban migration. Primary healthcare is third, built around technology-enabled local clinics connecting communities to remote doctors.
Tourism is fourth — Banga sees a vast gap between what many developing economies have to offer and how few visitors they actually attract.
Value-added manufacturing rounds it out, with a hard distinction: processing raw materials locally rather than exporting them for others to add the value.
Why It Matters To US Investors
“Very little of this is reliant on global trade — other than the manufacturing part,” Banga noted.
Private infrastructure investment hit $211 billion in 2025, a more than 60% jump over the prior year, as investors poured capital into the asset class. Banga’s framework points toward where the next wave could go — sectors driven by domestic consumption, not the trade routes currently being disrupted.
The World Bank mobilised “70 billion almost of private capital” last year, up from roughly $40 billion two to three years prior, using its Triple-A rating to de-risk projects and crowd in commercial investors. That’s the mechanism through which this playbook gets funded, and the entry point for private capital looking for emerging market exposure with less geopolitical noise attached.
The stakes go beyond returns, according to Banga.
“The best way to put a nail in the coffin of poverty is to give somebody a job,” he said — and these five sectors, in his view, are where those jobs will come from.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image via Shutterstock
Recent Comments