The World Bank on Monday chose Korean-born American health
expert Jim Yong Kim as its new president, maintaining Washington’s grip
on the job and leaving developing countries frustrated with the
selection process.
The World Bank on Monday chose Korean-born American health
expert Jim Yong Kim as its new president, maintaining Washington’s grip
on the job and leaving developing countries frustrated with the
selection process.
Kim, a physician and anthropologist who makes for a somewhat
unorthodox choice to head the global anti-poverty lender, won the job
over Nigeria’s widely respected finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
with the support of Washington’s allies in Western Europe, Japan and
Canada, as well as some emerging economies.
It was the first time in the World Bank’s history that the United States’ hold on the job was challenged.
The decision by the World Bank’s 25-member board was not unanimous, with emerging economies splitting their support.
Brazil and South Africa backed Okonjo-Iweala, while three sources said China and India supported Kim.
Kim, 52, who is president of Dartmouth College, will assume his new
post on July 1 after Robert Zoellick steps down as head of the World
Bank.
“I will seek a new alignment of the World Bank Group with a rapidly changing world,” Kim said in a statement.
He said he would work to ensure that the World Bank “delivers more
powerful results to support sustained growth; prioritizes evidence-based
solutions over ideology; amplifies the voices of developing countries;
and draws on the expertise and experience of the people we serve.”
Okonjo-Iweala congratulated Kim and said the competition had led to
“important victories” for developing nations, which have increasingly
pushed for more say at both institutions.
Still, she said more effort was needed to end the “unfair tradition”
that ensured Washington’s dominance of the global development lender.
“It is clear to me that we need to make it more open, transparent and
merit-based,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “We need to make sure that we do not
contribute to a democratic deficit in global governance.”
Some development experts criticized US President Barack Obama’s
choice as lacking the economic and financial credentials needed to
respond to the needs of rising middle-income countries, which are still
riddled with poverty but which are increasingly looking for innovative
ways to finance their development.
The United States said the process was open and transparent, but a
number of emerging nations questioned whether candidates were assessed
on their nationalities rather than on their merits, as World Bank
members countries had agreed in 2010.
The United States has held the presidency since the World Bank’s
founding after World War Two, while a European has always led its sister
institution, the International Monetary Fund.
Source: Dawn News
http://dawn.com/2012/04/17/world-bank-picks-health-expert-kim-as-president/
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