It was a potentially awkward moment handled with aplomb. Takehiko Nakao, a senior Japanese finance ministry official and the sole candidate to become the next president of the Asian Development Bank, was addressing a conference today at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies on G-20 post-crisis policy reforms.
“I wanted to have more candidates, to have a more competitive process,” he said, eliciting chuckles from the audience. “Open, transparent, and merit-based selection of the leaders of the World Bank and other international financial institutions is important.”
Panel moderator John Lipsky, who until recently was the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (and is now a distinguished visiting scholar at SAIS and member of CGD’s board of directors), shed light on the one-horse race. “Once you were nominated,” he told Nakao, “it was clear that no one else would have had any hope of matching your qualifications.”
For an alternative explanation, read Scott Morris’s Smoke Signals from Manila.
CGD blog posts reflect the views of the authors, drawing on prior research and experience in their areas of expertise.
CGD is a nonpartisan, independent organization and does not take institutional positions.
