Developing nations tip Okonjo-Iweala, Colombian for World Bank's top job

NIGERIA'S Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo are set to be nominated to lead the World Bank, sources with knowledge of emerging market efforts to find candidates told Reuters on Tuesday.However yesterday, a spokesman to Okonjo-Iweala said she is not pursuing the World Bank's top job, amid reports that her name was being put forth as a candidate.'The minister has not put herself forward for the position. She is not seeking it,' Paul Nwabuikwu told Agence France Presse (AFP), though he could not say whether others have nominated her on behalf of developing nations.He said it was 'premature' to say whether she would at some point decide to pursue the job, though he added that 'there seems to be some serious enthusiasm for the idea ... At this point, she has not indicated any interest.'But Colombian the former finance minister, Ocampo, said yesterday that he and Okonjo-Iweala are candidates to lead the World Bank.The United States, the biggest shareholder in the World Bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has not yet announced its candidate to lead the 187-nation development lender.Under a tacit agreement since the Bretton Woods institutions were founded nearly 70 years ago, the United States has always put an American at the helm of the World Bank and Europe has picked a European to lead the IMF.The arrangement has provoked protests in recent year from emerging and developing economies, which are seeking greater representation at the two bodies.The candidacies of Okonjo-Iweala and Ocampo, who have credentials as both economists and diplomats and according to sources the respective backing of Brazil and South Africa, pose a challenge to the U.S., whose hold on the top post has never been contested.But with its majority of votes and the expected support of European countries, the U.S is still likely to ensure that another American will succeed Robert Zoellick, who plans to step down when his term expires at the end of June.Washington has held the presidency since the bank's founding after World War Two, while a European has always led the IMF. It has yet to publicly identify a nominee to succeed Zoellick.The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, and the Obama administration has said it will name a candidate by then.All of the World Bank's 187 members nations have committed to a merit-based process to select Zoellick's successor.
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