Despite Paul Wolfowitz’s resignation, the World Bank’s reputation on accountability and transparency is in tatters, said international anti-poverty group ActionAid today.
ActionAid policy officer, Romilly Greenhill said "To demonstrate to the developing world that the Bank is serious in its claim of being a champion of good governance, its Board should pursue root and branch reform.
"A first step is to ensure that the selection of the new president is open to all nationalities and is based on merit, not cronyism. The world neither wants nor needs another White House appointee in this important position."
However, more action is still needed. "It is crucial that the way the Bank’s board is run is also reformed. It cannot be right that five countries automatically hold one seat each whilst the remaining 178 are squeezed into only 19," said Romilly Greenhill.
As a sign of good faith the Europeans should also relinquish their claim on appointing the IMF director, in order to increase the pressure on the US to open up leadership selection.