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The declaration reflects growing momentum for the candidacy of Banga, an Indian-born US citizen who has won support from India, Kenya, Ghana and Bangladesh, and received positive reviews from France and Germany at last month’s meeting of Group of 20 finance officials.
Biden last month nominated Banga, 63, to replace David Malpass, who announced his resignation after months of controversy over his initial failure to say he backed the scientific consensus on climate change.
The signatories highlighted Banga’s work on an agriculture programme in Latin America aimed at strengthening the resilience of farmers to climate disasters, and a crop insurance programme he shaped with the World Food Bank and private partners.
“He understands that the World Bank must serve as a force multiplier by setting the right agenda and then catalysing action across governments, the private sector, multilateral development banks, civil society, and philanthropies,” they said.
No other contenders have been publicly announced, although Russia says it is consulting with its allies about nominating their own candidate, in a move that could slow progress towards the bank’s goal of electing a new president by early May.
The World Bank has been headed by someone from the US, the lender’s dominant shareholder, since its founding at the end of World War 2.
A challenge from Russia or an allied country is unlikely to change the outcome, given the bank’s shareholding structure. It could expose simmering tensions between the US and Western nations and China — the bank’s third largest shareholder — over the bank and other global financial institutions.
Reuters
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