New President for World Bank

Subject : International Relations

Section : International Organizations

Concept :

US President Joe Biden is nominating former Mastercard CEO, India-born Ajay Banga, to be head the World Bank.

Appointment of the President of World Bank:

The President of the World Bank Group serves as Chairman of the Board, and is selected by the Executive Directors.
The President is the presiding officer, and ordinarily has no vote except a deciding vote in case of an equally divided Board.
As per the guidelines of the World Bank, the World Bank president must have:
- A proven track record of leadership.
- Experience managing large organizations with international exposure, and a familiarity with the public sector.
- Ability to articulate a clear vision of the Bank’s development mission.
- A firm commitment to and appreciation for multilateral cooperation.
- Effective and diplomatic communication skills, impartiality, and objectivity.

Who can nominate?

Executive directors of the World Bank can nominate candidates for the post and the candidate must be citizens of one of the bank’s member countries and cannot be a bank governor, executive director or alternate.
If there are more than three candidates, there would be a shortlisting process to narrow the field through an informal straw poll.
Then the shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by the board. The board will then make a final selection through a majority vote.

Number of votes needed to win:

To win the presidency of the World Bank, a candidate must win approval from the institution’s executive board, which has 25 members.
The US holds a 16% share of board voting power hence more often it is the US-backed candidate gets elected for the post of the president.

Voting Power in World Bank

Member countries are allocated votes at the time of membership and subsequently for additional subscriptions to capital.
To become a member of the Bank, a country must first join the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Governors

A Board of Governors represents the Bank’s government shareholders. Each member nation appoints a Governor and an Alternate Governor. Generally, these governors are country ministers, such as Ministers of Finance or Ministers of Development.
The governors are the ultimate policymakers in the World Bank. They meet once a year at the Bank’s Annual Meetings.

Executive Directors

The Bank’s 25 Executive Directors oversee the Bank’s business, including approving loans and guarantees, new policies, the administrative budget, country assistance strategies, and borrowing and financial decisions.
Under the IBRD Articles of Agreement, each of the five members having the largest number of shares appoints an Executive Director, , and the remaining members elect the other Executive Directors.