Bush to seek able manager, reformer for World Bank
23 May 2007 13:48:00 GMT Source: Reuters
By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The Bush administration will seek a capable manager for the World Bank who can heal rifts that opened under Paul Wolfowitz's tenure but will also pursue an anti-corruption agenda, analysts and people close to the White House said.
President George W. Bush made clear in an interview with Reuters this week he wants an American to replace Wolfowitz, who resigned amid an uproar over the hefty pay raise he authorized for his companion.
The White House has offered few other clues about the type of candidate it is seeking. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who is leading the search, has promised to consult European governments, in a signal Bush will avoid candidates who would stir controversy the way Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq war, did when he was chosen in 2005.
"I'm sure Paulson has heard an earful about the need for someone to come in who could heal very deep wounds that have developed over Wolfowitz at every level -- at the staff level and at the level of the shareholders," said Dennis de Tray, vice president of the Center for Global Development, a poverty think tank.
The top contenders include former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt, according to Republicans close to the Bush administration.
Among other names mentioned are Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, former U.S. Senator Bill Frist and U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
NEW CHALLENGES
The next head of the World Bank faces the unfinished task of streamlining a bureacracy-mired institution and positioning it to tackle new global challenges like climate change and the economic rise of China and India, countries less interested in its money and more in its knowledge.
Republican sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said neither Fischer nor Volcker appeared likely to get the job. Some said the administration may want someone more closely associated with Republican policies.
The United States, the bank's largest shareholder, has traditionally selected the head of the World Bank since the institution's establishment six decades ago. Its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, has always been led by a European.
Despite calls in some quarters to overhaul the selection process, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said he had not heard countries with seats on the World Bank's board calling into question those traditions.
Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that if the World Bank is to be effective and a role model to countries it lends to, its governance -- namely the way its leader is selected -- must change.
"It should be the most qualified person, chosen in an open and transparent system," said Stiglitz, a former World Bank chief economist.
Neither Zoellick nor Kimmitt are viewed by Europeans with the skepticism that greeted Wolfowitz, a former deputy U.S. defense secretary.
Wolfowitz had made an anti-corruption drive a signature issue. The White House has said that the push to cut down on corruption among countries that receive loans would remain an important focus. "It is essential that anti-corruption be a priority," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
Grant Aldonas, a former U.S. Commerce Department official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the types of candidates that are being mentioned are likely to be "fully supportive" of the anti-corruption drive. (Additional reporting by Glenn Somerville and Lesley Wroughton in Washington and Francois Murphy in Paris)
