CGD President Nancy Birdsall is quoted in a Reuters article on World Bank President Robert Zoellick stepping down.
From the article:
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday he will step down in June, raising questions as to whether the United States will for the first time throw open the job it has always claimed as its own.
"I'm honored to have led such a world class institution with so many talented and exceptional people," Zoellick said in a statement announcing his plans. Earlier, he had met with the World Bank's 25-member board to inform them of his decision.
Speculation has been rife in recent months over who might take the job when Zoellick departs. Possible U.S. candidates include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former White House economic adviser Larry Summers.
Zoellick, a Republican, would potentially be a strong candidate for a senior position if a Republican takes the White House in presidential elections in November.
While the Obama administration has said it supports an open and transparent selection process to fill lead positions in global institutions, it is unlikely to forfeit the top job at the World Bank in an election year, development experts said.
Emerging market and developing countries have campaigned hard in recent years to break Europe's grip on the International Monetary Fund and the United States's hold on the World Bank top positions.
Officials from large emerging economies like Brazil said on Wednesday the selection process for Zoellick's successor should be based on qualifications and not nationality. However, they acknowledged that given U.S. congressional pressure the job will probably remain in the hands of an American.
Last year, emerging market economies made an aggressive push to fill the IMF top job in a bitter contest won by France's Christine Lagarde.
"I do not know whether the president has spoken with Mr Zoellick and I don't have any information for you regarding possible successors," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters travelling with President Barack Obama on Air Force One.
"Asked specifically about Hillary Clinton or Larry Summers as possible candidates, Carney said, "There is a lot of speculation in the press about this and other jobs...I am not going to confirm any of it."
Nancy Birsdall, who heads the Center for Global Development in Washington, said on paper the United States is committed to opening up the selection process to all, but political pressure from U.S. congressional leaders will keep the job in U.S. hands.
"The election year timing puts the White House in an especially unenviable position. There is a risk that the World Bank could become a highly partisan, U.S. hot-button issue, as the UN has too often been," Birdsall wrote in a recent blog.
Development groups said it was time to open the job to other countries.
"The way the World Bank picks its president needs to change," said Elizabeth Stuart, policy adviser for Oxfam, the global development group. "The Bank only operates in developing countries, so any candidate not supported by a majority of these countries would plainly lack legitimacy."
STEADY AT THE HELM
Zoellick, a former U.S. chief trade negotiator and Deputy Secretary of State, became World Bank president in July 2007 amid a staff revolt against then president Paul Wolfowitz after revelations he had a role in giving his companion, a bank employee, a raise.
He immediately turned the bank's attention on its development agenda, warning of a brewing food and energy price crisis, which was stirring social unrest in the poorest parts of the world.
As the bank looked for ways to help countries cushion the impact of skyrocketing food prices, a global financial crisis threatened to undermine more than a decade of strong growth in emerging and developing countries.
Under Zoellick, World Bank lending increased sharply to $44 billion in fiscal year 2010 from $13.5 billion in 2008, reflecting increased needs by fast-rising emerging and developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
Zoellick also secured approval for an $86.2 billion capital package, the first in over 20 years. He championed more voting power for emerging economies and convincing countries as China, Brazil and others to contribute more funding to the World Bank.
Despite budget strains in developed world, Zoellick secured over $90 billion in pledges during tough negotiations to replenish the World Bank's fund for the poorest countries.
In speeches he has pointed to the rise of emerging economies as new poles of growth, outlined the need for a new approach to aid, while emphasizing the need for better governance in regions such as the Middle East where street protests that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
(Additional reporting by Glenn Somerville and Laura MacInnis; editing by James Dalgleish and Jeffrey Benkoe)
Copyright © 2012, Reuters