Very quiet, so far. Reuters reports that “Brazil, South Korea, China and Pakistan were among a group of developing nations that called for a more transparent process for selecting the head of the bank.”
But, says an unnamed board official, “‘Countries want to move toward a more inclusive merit-based global process but the prevailing sentiment is that the Americans have been very bruised by this and are not very responsive to be pressed harder.'”
And the French have made another non-committal but discouraging comment: “Despite calls in some quarters to overhaul the selection process, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said he had not heard countries with seats on the World Bank’s board calling into question those traditions.”
With the G8 summit in two weeks — a likely moment for decision-making — time is running out for alternative nominations ….