Harboursandport.com: Donald Trump's pick for World Bank
president, David Malpass, has officially been approved for the role.
Mr Malpass, a Trump loyalist,
was a senior economic adviser to the US president during his 2016 election
campaign.
 |
| New World Bank president, David Malpass |
His appointment has stirred
debate, as some worry that Mr Malpass, a critic of the bank, will seek to
reduce its role.
In February White House
officials said Mr Malpass, a long-time Republican, would be a "pro-growth
reformer".
Mr Malpass said he was
"honoured" by the appointment.
"Our twin goals of
eliminating extreme poverty and achieving shared prosperity are more relevant
than ever," he said.
The former Bear Sterns
economist has criticised the World Bank in the past, along with other
multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for
being "intrusive" and "entrenched".
'Not willing to fight'
To become World Bank
president Mr Malpass won unanimous approval from the institution's executive
board, which has 25 members.
The US holds a 16% share of
board voting power and has traditionally chosen the World Bank's leader.
China is the World Bank's
third-largest shareholder after Japan, with about a 4.5% share of voting power.
Professor Christopher Kilby,
an expert on the economics of foreign aid at Villanova University near
Philadelphia, said it is likely that China and other shareholders did not push
back on Mr Malpass' appointment as they "recognise that they are unlikely
to succeed in derailing the US nominee."
"Since they have seen
President Trump punish those who stand up to him, they are not willing to fight
the US," Prof Kilby said.
In the past China has also
not sought more power within the World Bank as some of its aims, including
promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, do not align with Chinese domestic
and foreign policy, Prof Kilby said.
Analysis: BBC New York business correspondent Michelle Fleury
David Malpass will need to
establish his credibility quickly as the new president of the World Bank.
The legitimacy of the
selection process came under renewed scrutiny after Donald Trump's pick emerged
as the only candidate to succeed Jim Kim.
And he's been an outspoken
critic of the institution he's about to lead.
In the past, he's described
the World Bank as too big. He's said he'd like to lend less to middle income
countries like China, which he argues are financially strong enough. And he has
challenged the global order.
Speaking at an event at the
Council on Foreign Relations back in 2017 he said:
"Multilateralism has
gone substantially too far - to the point where it is hurting US and global
growth".
But while past statements offer
a glimpse of some of his thinking, they don't tell the full story.
When his predecessor Jim Kim
asked shareholders for more money, it was David Malpass who - in exchange for
reforms at the bank - helped make it happen.
And since being nominated for
the position, his tone has softened.
Will he be able to articulate
a vision for the bank to win over doubters?
Lending shift
The World Bank critic could
narrow the focus of its lending to the world's poorest countries, among other
changes.
He has pushed for the World
Bank to halt lending to China, which he says is too wealthy to deserve such
aid.
And last year, he was part of
negotiations over a package of World Bank lending reforms.
The US agreed to back a plan
for shareholders to inject $13bn (£10bn) into the World Bank and its private
lending arm, with conditions that aimed to limit the bank's lending, and focus
resources more on poorer countries.
The reforms are aimed at
pushing more middle-income countries towards private sector lending, and
limiting World Bank staff salary growth.
Controversial US picks
Traditionally, the US picks
the World Bank president, Europeans choose the IMF managing director, and the
Japanese do the same for the Asian Development Bank.
Prof Kilby said a more
controversial US pick for the World Bank president role was neoconservative
Paul Wolfowitz, and yet he still landed the role.
Mr Wolfowitz, who had the job
between 1 June 2005 and 30 June 2007, was seen as a driving force behind
pursuing the US-led conflict in Iraq.
"For this and other
reasons, Mr Wolfowitz was unacceptable to the Europeans and there was push
back, including other nominees, for a while," Prof Kilby said.
"But as the election
date drew near, the fear that this would threaten the European traditional
right to pick the head of the IMF led the European countries to back down and
accept the US pick," he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment