Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski was born on October 3, 1938 in Lima, Peru. He attended Oxford University where he earned a degree in politics and economics. He then earned a master's degree in economics from Princeton University in 1961.

Kuczynski joined the World Bank immediately following his time at Princeton. He was hired as a loan officer and economist in the Western Hemisphere Department. His work included economic research on a number of Central and South American countries with a focus on mining and extractive industries. In 1963 he lectured at the Bank's Economic Development Institute (EDI).

In 1967 Kuczynski returned to Peru where he held a number of positions, including Director of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru. He returned to the United States in 1969. Before returning to the World Bank in 1971, he was employed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and served as a consultant to Maurice Strong, Director of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Upon his return to the Bank, Kuczynski was named Chief Economist of the Central America and Caribbean Department (CACDR). In 1973 he moved to the new Policy Planning and Program Review Department (EPR, then, after 1977, PPR) where he was named the chief of the Policy Planning Division (EPRPP, then PPRPP), a position he held until the fall of 1973. The Policy Planning Division analyzed the Bank's development policy structure and sought to identify gaps, weaknesses and opportunities for innovation within the Bank.

Between 1972 and 1973, Kuczynski was also a member of the Bank's Research Committee. The Committee's main function was to review all Bank research projects and to advise the Chairman, who had ultimate responsibility for approving research projects, on their merit. It also developed an overall research program, setting priorities and initiating research proposals.

Kuczynski left the Bank again in the fall of 1973. Between 1973 and 1975 he served as the Vice President of Kuhn, Loeb and Co., an international investment bank headquartered in New York, New York and then as an adviser to the Central Bank of Venezuela.

In 1975 Kuczynski returned to the World Bank Group as economic adviser in the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and left in 1977.

Since departing the Bank, Kuczynski has also worked in international banking, private equity, and non-governmental organizations and has authored and coedited a number of books on Latin American development.

Kuczynski has also served in a variety of posts in the Peruvian national government, including: Minister of Energy and Mines (July 1980 to August 1982); Minister of Economy and Finance (July 2001 to July 2002 and February 2004 to August 2005); and Prime Minister (August 2005 to July 2006). After an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2011, Kuczynski was elected the president of Peru in 2016.