The bid of Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the presidency of the World Bank got a boost today as one of the other two candidates for the job, Jose Antonio Ocampo, withdrew from the race and declared his support for the Nigerian.
Ocampo, a former Colombian Minister of Finance, threw in the towel today and has so notified the World Bank via a letter.
He said in the letter: “For me, as an economist and as a Colombian, it has been a great honour to participate in this first open competition for the presidency of the World Bank.
“I am pleased with the great success they have had from the Directors, evaluating my candidacy as one of the most strong, and the international public opinion, the ideas I have proposed throughout the debate, and now I hope to contribute to reform the World Bank in the coming years.
“However, as we approach the final phase of this process, it is clear that this is becoming no longer a competition on the merits of the candidates, but a political exercise. In this exercise I am at a disadvantage by the lack of support from the government of my country and how this has hindered the accumulation of political backing for my candidacy.
“Although this choice does not comply in a full feature an open, transparent and based on the merit of candidates, it has established the precedent that the election of President of the World Bank has to be different.
“In that spirit, for the reasons given above, and to facilitate the desired unity of the emerging and developing economies around a candidate, today I am retiring from the race to support the Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who I wish the best of luck in this final stage.”