WASH­ING­TON/BRASIL­IA: For­mer Colom­bian fi­nance min­is­ter Jose An­to­nio Ocam­po, who end­ed his bid to be­come World Bank pres­i­dent on Fri­day, means two can­di­dates are left in an un­prece­dent­ed chal­lenge to Unit­ed States' con­trol of the glob­al de­vel­op­ment in­sti­tu­tion.

With the board of the World Bank to meet to­day to pick a new pres­i­dent, Ocam­po said he hoped emerg­ing-mar­ket na­tions would ral­ly be­hind Niger­ian Fi­nance Min­is­ter Ngozi Okon­jo-Iweala in a race that he said had turned high­ly po­lit­i­cal. Okon­jo-Iweala, a for­mer World Bank man­ag­ing di­rec­tor, is now the sole can­di­date from de­vel­op­ing na­tions in a race against US nom­i­nee Jim Yong Kim, a Ko­re­an-Amer­i­can health ex­pert who ap­pears al­most cer­tain to se­cure the post.

Ocam­po, who was nom­i­nat­ed by Brazil, said his can­di­da­cy had been "hand­i­capped" by a lack of sup­port from his own coun­try. Colom­bia said last month it was fo­cus­ing on a bid for the pres­i­den­cy of the In­ter­na­tion­al La­bor Or­gan­i­sa­tion, where it had a greater chance of suc­cess. "It is clear that the process is shift­ing from a strict mer­it-based com­pe­ti­tion, in which my can­di­da­cy stood on strong grounds, in­to a more po­lit­i­cal-ori­ent­ed ex­er­cise," he said in a state­ment.

Strong prece­dent set

Ocam­po, now the di­rec­tor of eco­nom­ic and po­lit­i­cal de­vel­op­ment at Co­lum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty in New York, said he did not be­lieve the se­lec­tion process had been con­duct­ed in a ful­ly open, trans­par­ent and mer­it-based fash­ion, but it had es­tab­lished a strong prece­dent.

How­ev­er, his de­ci­sion to leave the race does not mean all de­vel­op­ing coun­tries will sup­port Okon­jo-Iweala in a straw poll on Mon­day when the World Bank board tries to find con­sen­sus on a suc­ces­sor to Robert Zoel­lick, who is de­part­ing in June.

Un­der a in­for­mal agree­ment, the World Bank has al­ways been head­ed by an Amer­i­can and the In­ter­na­tion­al Mon­e­tary Fund by a Eu­ro­pean. Emerg­ing-mar­ket na­tions have been seek­ing to chal­lenge US lead­er­ship at the bank to in­crease their in­flu­ence in glob­al eco­nom­ic in­sti­tu­tions long dom­i­nat­ed by rich na­tions.

Brazil­ian Fi­nance Min­is­ter Gui­do Man­te­ga said on Fri­day the BRICS group of emerg­ing mar­ket coun­tries-Brazil, Rus­sia, In­dia, Chi­na and South Africa-is like­ly to make a joint de­ci­sion on who on who to sup­port for the World Bank pres­i­den­cy. The de­ci­sion was ex­pect­ed on Fri­day.

Man­te­ga said the five coun­tries were still dis­cussing which can­di­date they would sup­port. The BRICS group al­so in­cludes Rus­sia, In­dia, Chi­na and South Africa. "Brazil is talk­ing with the BRICS and we will like­ly take a joint po­si­tion," Man­te­ga told re­porters in Brasil­ia.

The can­di­dates in­clud­ed for­mer Colom­bian Fi­nance Min­is­ter Jose An­to­nio Ocam­po, who vis­it­ed Brazil on Thurs­day, as well as Niger­ian Fi­nance Min­is­ter Ngozi Okon­jo-Iweala and Unit­ed States nom­i­nee Jim Yong Kim, a Ko­re­an-Amer­i­can health ex­pert.

Reuters