Jose Antonio Ocampo, Ex-Colombian Finance Minister, Ends World Bank Bid

* Colombia's Ocampo withdraws from World Bank contest

* U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim likely winner

* Russia says it supports Kim

By Lesley Wroughton and Tiago Pariz

WASHINGTON/BRASILIA, April 13 (Reuters) - Former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo ended his bid to become World Bank president on Friday, leaving two candidates in an unprecedented challenge to U.S. control of the global development institution.

With the board of the World Bank to meet on Monday to pick a new president, Ocampo said he hoped emerging-market nations would rally behind Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a race that he said had turned highly political.

Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank managing director, is now the sole candidate from developing nations in a race against U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American health expert who appears almost certain to secure the post.

Ocampo, who was nominated by Brazil, said his candidacy had been "handicapped" by a lack of support from his own country. Colombia said last month it was focusing on a bid for the presidency of the International Labor Organization, where it had a greater chance of success.

"It is clear that the process is shifting from a strict merit-based competition, in which my candidacy stood on strong grounds, into a more political-oriented exercise," he said in a statement.

"In this process, I stand on weaker grounds due to the lack of open support from the government of my home country, Colombia," he added.

Ocampo, now the director of economic and political development at Columbia University in New York, said he did not believe the selection process had been conducted in a fully open, transparent and merit-based fashion, but it had established a strong precedent.

However, his decision to leave the race does not mean all developing countries will support Okonjo-Iweala in a straw poll on Monday when the World Bank board tries to find consensus on a successor to Robert Zoellick, who is departing in June.

Indeed, the promise of a united front from emerging markets evaporated on Friday when Russia said it would support Kim, becoming the first major emerging economy to do so.

"Taking into account Mr. Kim's considerable professional qualities, as well as his experience and knowledge, the Russian Federation will support the candidacy of Jim Yong Kim during the voting by the bank's board of directors," the Russian Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Under a informal agreement, the World Bank has always been headed by an American and the International Monetary Fund by a European.

Emerging-market nations have been seeking to challenge U.S. leadership at the bank to increase their influence in global economic institutions long dominated by rich nations.

While Kim is still the favorite to win the World Bank presidency due to backing from the United States and European countries, a rigorous challenge from developing countries could put them in a stronger position to extract concessions.

It also increases their odds of winning senior jobs coming open in the next few months, including chief economist and head of the International Finance Corp, the World Bank's private-sector lending arm.

Okonjo-Iweala thanked Ocampo and said his presence had helped to further a shared goal of an open selection process.

"I am proud that Dr. Ocampo and I have helped make history by changing the way that World Bank presidential elections are contested," she said in a statement.

Comments

[SitandStay]

04:35 AM on 04/16/2012

This just in about the murder of Briton in China.......
Exclusive: Briton killed after threat to expose Chinese leader's wife
(Reuters) - The British businessman whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a Chinese leader's wife to move money abroad, two sources with knowledge of the police investigation said.

It was the first time a specific motive has been revealed for Neil Heywood's murder last November, a death which ended Chinese leader Bo Xilai's hopes of emerging as a top central leader and threw off balance the Communist Party's looming leadership succession.

Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, asked Heywood late last year to move a large sum of money abroad, and she became outraged when he demanded a larger cut of the money than she had expected due to the size of the transaction, the sources said.

She accused him of being greedy and hatched a plan to kill him after he said he could expose her dealings, one of the sources said, summarizing the police case. Both sources have spoken to investigators in Chongqing, the southwestern Chinese city where Heywood was killed and where Bo had cast himself as a crime-fighting Communist Party leader.....

[VPerry24]

02:26 PM on 04/15/2012

Fact is, the USA gotten a lot closer of becoming the ruler of the world.

[spinotter11]

08:36 PM on 04/15/2012

While becoming a hollowed-out shell of a country, so that's no ruler.

[fortressfountain]

10:58 AM on 04/15/2012

The bottom line is this. The global economy depends on the USA consumer buying the globes shoddy merchandise on credit. I guess not many takers anymore-dry ships stock is about $3.00.
The chinese hope to bring their shoddy merchandise through Mexico and to us.
People are bartering, buying 2nd hand etc.
Opt out of the global market system.

[frankieshoes1]

06:53 PM on 04/15/2012

I agree but it would be the same as opting out of electricity. It has become too firmly entrenched in our economies.