20 July 2007
The new World Bank President spoke of middle income countries, good governance and the need to diversify services at a town hall meeting earlier this month.
World Bank staff welcomed new Bank President Robert Zoellick at a town hall meeting at the institution's D.C. headquarters July 11. The meeting was organized for Bank staff to make comments and pose questions to their new president. Overseas employees chimed in through video-link from Indonesia, India, Egypt, Kenya, Turkey and Argentina.
Focusing on Zoellick's personal ideas regarding the Bank and its continued role in middle income countries, staffers made no mention of the democratic deficit in the process leading to his presidency.
At a time of skepticism over the Bank's relevance, staff and Zoellick brainstormed ways to adapt the Bank's services to fit countries' needs. Zoellick underscored the need for the Bank to diversify its services within middle income countries (MICs). He said it must encourage MICs, who lend money to developing countries, to follow international standards like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
Zoellick also proposed that the Bank create a system of risk insurance for natural catastrophes.
On the issue of good governance, which Zoellick has pledged to keep a priority, he suggested that it was related to the capacity of each nation. Another emphasis was on the importance of regional integration through cross border infrastructure and energy needs.
Another prospect for expanding the Bank's services could include providing support to non-sovereign institutions. “As Trade Representative, I found World Bank economics of development were top of the line ... in making the public case," Zoellick commented. He also stressed the importance of financial intermediaries and telecommunications for growth.
The final question from the audience spoke to internal issues, such as problematic incentive structures and the distortion caused by the fiscal year cycle. This cycle leads to the Bank's habit of scrambling to spend at the year's end in order to secure budgets for the next. “We recommend multi-year budgets in other countries, but we can’t do it [at the Bank],” remarked the staffer.