In what would be his last speech as part of the organization, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Justin Lin held a conference at the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago de Chile.
The World Bank approved a 480 million dollars loan to strengthen public investment in the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul which will benefit around ten million people.
Argentina's move to nationalize local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol, was strongly criticized by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé.
US nominee Jim Yong Kim has been chosen as the new president of the World Bank. The Korean-American health expert, president of Dartmouth College faced a strong challenge for the post, which has traditionally gone to an American, from Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
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 US control of the global development institution.
Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to head the World Bank, told the bank's board of directors that he would not hesitate to question the status quo and do his best to help the world poorest.
Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to lead the World Bank, will win broad international support despite an unprecedented challenge by candidates from emerging economies, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview.
The United States has nominated a public health expert of South Korean origin as its candidate for the World Bank presidency, a job emerging market economies are contesting for the first time.
The US is under intense pressure to nominate a top candidate for the World Bank presidency after developing countries put forward two credible contenders of their own.
The World Bank’s new Latin America chief backed selective use of capital controls when inflows were creating asset bubbles or distorting foreign exchange markets. Hasan Tuluy, the Bank’s new vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean, said while trade protectionism should be avoided, there was space for macro prudential measures.