Developing Nations To Announce Two Candidates For World Bank Presidency

Developing economies are going to nominate two candidates for the post of the next president of the World Bank, according to a Reuters report.

It is expected that Finance Minister of Nigeria Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Finance MInister of Colombia Jose Antonio Ocampo will file nominations for being the next person to lead World Bank, says a report by Reuters.

This is a significant move considering that since World War II, the president of the World Bank has always been from the United States. The term of the current president Robert Zoellick will expire this June and it is confirmed that he will not stand for a renewal of the position.

Emerging economies have raised their voices in the last few years to end the US domination of the leadership of the World Bank.

Going by the Reuters report, Okonjo-Iweala and Ocampo have the support of Brazil and South Africa, respectively.

Okonjo-Iweala was previously vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group. In 2007, she was also appointed as the Managing Director of the World Bank, a post that she held till 2011 when she became the Finance Minister of Nigeria. She has a Ph.D in urban and regional planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ocampo was previously United Nations's Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. He is currently director, Economic and Political Development Concentration, at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. He has a Ph.D in economics from Yale University and has published extensively on macroeconomic theory and policy.