Comment on the Nomination of US Treasury Under Secretary David Malpass as World Bank President

Washington, D.C./Sassenberg,

Ute Koczy, World Bank campaigner at Urgewald, comments on the nomination of US Treasury Under Secretary David Malpass as the next President of the World Bank Group, which was reported by insiders:

“This way of determining the next World Bank President perpetuates an unfortunate tradition: ruthlessly and exclusively in the interest of the US government. The selection committee is already useless before it could even begin with interviewing possible candidates. By nominating Malpass, US President Trump wants to lift a follower of his ‘America First!’ approach to the top of one of the key multilateral institutions. That would be a disaster for the World Bank. It could put an end to initiatives of the World Bank to get out of fossil finance.

For the World Bank shareholders outside the USA, it is time to take a stance against this sort of power politics. The times should be over when the USA and Europe could decide over the World Bank and the IMF top position single-handedly. Large shareholders like Germany now must step up and show courage in the World Bank’s Board of Directors. They must insist on the selection benchmarks they have set out publicly. This is the only way to prevent multilateralism from suffering further serious damage. The haggling over posts at the expense of developing and emerging countries must stop.”

Background:

The official nomination deadline for the successor to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who unexpectedly resigned at the beginning of the year, is due to begin on Thursday. As it became known from media reports, US President Donald Trump wants to try to create facts the day before by nominating the US Treasury Under Secretary and Economist David Malpass. Until shortly after the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, Malpass was chief economist at the investment bank Bear Stearns, which could only be saved from bankruptcy by a takeover. Shortly before the meltdown of the US real estate market, he described the housing market as a long-term growth factor of the US economy. In various articles, Malpass presented himself as a critic of multilateral treaties and economic regulation. In addition, he stands for the continued use of climate-destroying fossil fuels.