The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced on March 13, 2025, that Pakistani national Amena Arif had been appointed its Country Manager for the Philippines. IFC said her priorities would include mobilizing private-sector investment for job creation, climate action and financial inclusion.
Who is Amena Arif?
Arif joined IFC in 2012 after working in international commercial banks. At IFC, she led debt and equity investment transactions with financial institutions in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Lebanon. She holds an MBA from Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. IFC’s appointment announcement described her career and new role.
What will she focus on in the Philippines?
IFC said Arif would work to mobilize private investment to create jobs, reduce climate-change impacts and promote financial inclusion. She also described the intended work as helping small businesses grow and making digital services more widely available.
“IFC is committed to working together with our partners in the Philippines to unlock funding that will help create jobs, support companies to mitigate the impacts of climate change, open doors for small businesses to grow, and make sure digital services are available to everyone,” Arif said in the appointment announcement.
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Her previous IFC country-manager roles
Before taking the Philippines post, Arif was IFC Country Manager for East Africa, based in Nairobi. Earlier, she held the Country Manager role for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. IFC’s 2020 announcement of her East Africa appointment provides earlier career context; the page text dates that announcement March 15, 2020.
Arif succeeded Jean-Marc Arbogast, who moved to a World Bank Group Country Manager role in Chile. The Philippines appointment announcement quoted her saying she was “excited to be back in Asia” and looked forward to working with public- and private-sector partners on sustainable and inclusive growth.
How the appointment connects to IFC’s Philippine work
Later in 2025, IFC identified Arif as its Philippines Country Manager in releases about projects with local companies. Its announcement on participation in Maynilad’s IPO linked the investment to the company’s stated plans to expand wastewater-service coverage and to wider capital-market activity. These are project aims, not evidence that the targets have already been achieved.
In a separate release, IFC described a sustainability-linked financing partnership with Ayala Land concerning green and resilient buildings. The release included projected employment and a greenhouse-gas reduction target; those figures are projections or targets, not realized results.
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IFC’s appointment release said the organization made a record $56 billion commitment to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries in fiscal year 2024. That is an organization-wide figure, not an amount committed to the Philippines or to projects managed by Arif.
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Sources
- IFC appointment announcement, March 13, 2025
- IFC East Africa appointment announcement, dated March 15, 2020 in the page text
- IFC release on its participation in Maynilad’s IPO
- IFC release on financing with Ayala Land
- The Philippine Star’s report, March 14, 2025
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