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| Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, currently Nigeria's finance minister, is also a former World Bank managing director |
A group of
former World Bank officials have written a letter backing Nigeria's Finance
Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to be its next president.
In an open
letter, 39 former economists and managers said the Bank should choose the next
chief on merit.
Three
candidates are up for the job, the first time the World Bank has had to make a
choice.
Traditionally
the post is given to the candidate put forward by the US, which this time is
Professor Jim Yong Kim.
The
executive board of the Bank has to choose between Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, a former
World Bank managing director, Jose Antonio Ocampo, a former finance minister of
Colombia, and Jim Yong Kim, a public health expert and president of Dartmouth
College.
The World
Bank plans to select the successor to outgoing president Robert Zoellick by 20
April, when it starts its spring meetings with the IMF.
The letter,
which is signed by high-ranking managers and economists, including Tunisia's
central bank chief, Mustapha Nabli, said: "We believe that Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala has outstanding qualifications across the full range of relevant
criteria."
They said
they cared too much about the institution not to speak out.
Under an
informal agreement, the US choses its own person as the World Bank president.
In return, Europe appoints a European as head of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), which is the Bank's sister institution.
Frenchwoman
Christine Lagarde, Europe's choice, was the most recent appointment to the IMF.
Emerging
economies have become increasingly unhappy with this arrangement and are
pushing for change.
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