Christian Aid ëappalledí by Wolfowitz nomination
-21/03/05
Christian Aid ëappalledí by Wolfowitz nomination
Christian Aid has said it is ëappalledí that Paul Wolfowitz has been nominated by the United States to become the new president of the World Bank.
This latest appointment is a stark reminder of the undemocratic nature of some international financial institutions says the aid agency.
Most poor nations ñ where the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wield the most power ñ have the least say in the way the institutions are run and the decisions they take the agency points out.
ìUS President George Bush is able to put forward a controversial ally and strong advocate of the Iraq war to run an institution that has a significant influence over the economic fortunes of developing nationsî Christian Aid said in a statement.
ìIt is difficult to imagine how Mr Wolfowitzís past experience as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s deputy will have prepared him to lead an important multilateral agency tasked with promoting good governance and poverty reduction throughout the
developing world.î
Despite commitments made by the UK government and other Western leaders to reform the process, Christian Aid warns that recruitment procedures at the higher levels of the World Bank and IMF ìresemble an old boyís network, and not the transparent process we would expect from institutions that are technically part of the UN familyî.
Five years ago the UK government pledged to challenge the undemocratic nature of the World Bank and IMF in their 2000 white paper on globalisation.
Last week the Africa Commission underlined the importance of good governance to bring African countries out of poverty.
Christian aid suggests that the US announcement has shown that the principles of good governance ìonly apply to African governments, and not to the institutions who wield so much power in the continent.ì
For more information and a critique of the structures of the World Bank and IMF see Christian Aid’s 2003 report ëStruggling to be heard: Democratising the World Bank and IMFí