Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has lost the race for the World Bank Presidency to the United States nominated Jim Yong Kim.
Yong Kim who was nominated by the US president, Barack Obama, is a Korean-American health expert and current president of Dartmouth University.
A statement by the World Bank said that Dr. Jim Yong Kim will succeed Robert Zoellick, serving a five-year term beginning on 1 July.
“His deep development background coupled with his dedication to forging consensus will help breathe new life into the World Bank’s efforts to secure fast economic growth that is widely shared,” Mr Geithner, US Treasury Secretary said in a statement.
“Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first-hand, through his impressive work in developing countries.
“His rigorous, science-based drive for results will be invaluable for the World Bank Group as it modernises to better serve client countries in overcoming poverty,” the outgoing president, Mr Zoellick said.
Meanwhile, the bank hailed the selection process as competitive, saying that the challenge posed by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, as well as by Colombian candidate Jose Antonio Ocampo, would benefit the institution in the long run.
The World Bank said that the having three candidates had “enriched the discussion of the role of the president and of the World Bank Group’s future direction.”
This year’s vote was the first time the World Bank had to choose between candidates since its creation more than 60 years ago.
Mr Ocampo announced on Friday that he was withdrawing from the race and supporting Ms Okonjo-Iweala.
The World Bank did not provide details of the final vote or which country had backed which candidate.
Dr Kim will oversee a staff of 9,000 economists and development experts, and a loan portfolio that hit $258bn (£163bn) last year.
Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington suggested Dr Kim would make a very different kind of leader.
“There’s just no comparison between him and any of the prior World Bank presidents,” he said.
“The others were political insiders. They spent most of their lives getting rich or becoming politically powerful, or worse. Kim, by contrast, has spent most of his life trying to improve the lives of poor people.”
There is nothing like merit in this world, that is the clear envidence of the world bank presidential election result released today and nigeria should know that America is never a brother.
USA is more advance than Nigeria,so they must be advance than us in exprience.
As a Student of Economics {AAUA}, I think we should Forget all this Conspiracy Theory. The World Bank is a Baby of the G8, i see no way a candidate of a Less Developed Country will Head it. Traditionally, IMF have been Headed by an European and WB by an American. Letz join the League of Developed Economy and then contest For the WB top job.
How could Nigerians expect such victory for our candidates. Do PDP candidates loose elections no matter how credible the opponent candidates are? Those Nigerians who expected Ngozi to win are not serious.
How could Nigerians expect victory our candidate? Do PDP candidates loose elections no matter how credible the opponent candidates are? Had she won, it would have been one of the most uncommon luxuries in history of mankind. Those Nigerians who expected Ngozi to win are not serious.
Ngozi kindly come back 2 ur homeland and display ur talent @ home, so ur perfomance will determine ur next contest. We are happy u losse and you will die a losser if u dnt quit planning 2 zero our economy. U dnt even deserve ur position @ home bt jonah’s intrest not even thinking of wb, abeg tie ur rope we’ll nd continue wit stealing our funds.
Y ar dis world stil practising tribalism…. Is it b/c. Obama is d world president dat givs him d ordersity 2 rule out our candidate witout a clear election statistics……. Ngozi okonjo iweala ride on cos u’re stil da bst
@Bashir Hanga I am 100% in support of you… she is a major factor contributing to under-development in Nigeria… She will never get that position but will get it @home and continue with her corruption and bad econmic policies
She ran because African leaders urged the president to let her be put forward on account of her track record and achievements. This process has impacted positively on the image of Nigeria.
Dr Ng iweala is the best candidate for that post but role of obama in the game is pure demonstration of intercontinental cold war and advertisment of national superiority.
Looking at d anticident. The world leader understand dat okonjo iweala has done nothing to improve d economic situation of nigeria let alone affecting the world. Accordin to kim, he said d economic situation of developing nation are realistic on the pages of paper. It does not depict real market situation. Invarably okonjo is part of the looter dat paint our economy white on dpages of paper while d situation is bad.