A solid U.S. candidate to head the World Bank would be good for the United States and the bank because the world’s largest economy should be represented in top international bodies, outgoing President Robert Zoellick said on Saturday, while emphasizing he has no role in the selection process.

In an interview in Singapore, Zoellick also said he did not believe Spain, Italy or Portugal needed bailouts to ease massive debt burdens but that reforms needed critical support of Germany and other European leading nations and expressed cautious optimism that the global economy would sustain growth this year.

The World Bank last week launched the nomination process to select a new president to succeed Zoellick when he steps down in June, inviting names from any of its 187 member countries. The Obama administration has said it would open the process to competition.

Zoellick noted however that Americans did not hold top posts at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, regional development banks or International Monetary Fund.

“I want the United States to feel a sense of responsibility to the international system. So in that sense if you get the right American candidate I think that can be good for the United States and the bank.”

So far, two people most often mentioned as possible successors are both American: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former White House economic adviser and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. The State Department has insisted that Clinton would not be taking the job.

Much like in 2011, when Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, officials from countries such as Brazil and the Philippines said it was time to break the decades-old pattern of putting an American in charge of the World Bank and a European atop the IMF.

Agustin Carstens, Mexico’s central bank governor, who had made an unsuccessful bid to head up the International Monetary fund last year, said on Wednesday the World Bank presidency should be open to a wide field of candidates.
Zoellick said the latest Greek bailout totaling 130 billion euros would merely buy time.

“It’s too early to know, partly it depends on the actions the Greeks have to take,” he said.
“I think that the European Union has dealt with Greece as one element but the core elements are really going to be the success of some of the bigger countries, such as Italy and Spain.”

But he said bailouts weren’t necessary for these two countries or Portugal.
“Each country’s situation is different and you really have three interconnected problems. For some it’s the size of the sovereign debt, for some it’s the effect on the banking industry, and for some it’s their competitiveness,” he said adding that “Spain and Italy need time to make the reforms.”

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 26th Feb 2012