ISMAIL LAGARDIEN: SA can lobby for World Bank’s first African president
Jim Yong Kim’s sudden resignation opens a window for first African head since the World Bank's formation 75 years ago
On January 7 World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced that he would step down. Kim’s sudden resignation, which becomes effective at the end of January, helps us pry open a discussion on the future of the bank and its twin, the IMF, as cornerstone institutions of global governance. More specifically, there is an opportunity to make a bold intervention on who would be the next president of the bank. The constellation of power in the multilateral system is such that the bank-fund is in effect controlled by the US and Europe. Washington has the final say on appointing the bank’s president, and Europe appoints the fund’s MD. Kim’s resignation opened a small window of opportunity for SA to nudge a change to this constellation of power. At the start of 2019, SA assumed a seat on the UN Security Council. The UN is the parent body of the bank-fund. In its role on the security council, SA may be able to make a statement on the next president of the bank. At the same time, SA can send a hig...
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