“Zoellick must begin a series of reforms in his first 100 days to create a new deal between the bank and the world’s poor. We can’t continue with business as usual,” said Jeremy Hobbs, Oxfam’s executive director.
Wolfowitz had waged a vigorous battle to save his job. He was all but forced out, however, by the finding of a special bank panel that he violated conflict-of-interest rules in his handling of Riza’s pay package.
The whole matter was seen as a growing liability that threatened to tarnish the institution’s reputation and hobble its ability to persuade countries around the world to contribute billions of dollars to provide financial assistance to poor nations.
Yet the board on Monday struck a conciliatory note, expressing appreciation to the departing Wolfowitz.
By tradition, the World Bank has been run by an American. The Bush administration made clear it wanted to keep that decades-old practice firmly intact throughout the Wolfowitz debacle. The United States is the bank’s largest shareholder and its biggest financial contributor.
The bank, created in 1945 to rebuild Europe after World War II, provides more than $20 billion a year for projects such as building dams and roads, bolstering education and fighting disease. The bank’s centerpiece program offers interest-free loans to the poorest countries.
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