Tough boots to fill at the top of the World Bank

WORLD BANK SPECIAL

The World Bank: the impossible job? Tough boots to fill at the top of the World Bank Is the World Bank fit for purpose? Eugene Rotberg and the World Bank: Worth spending one’s life on

Identifying candidates who were willing to take on the World Bank presidency became trickier as the list of desirable or essential requirements lengthened. 

Preferred credentials added in later years would include an interest in development, a commitment to alleviating poverty, a determination to address climate change and reasonable social and communications skills. 

Ideally, too, World Bank presidents would be sufficiently fit and youthful to complete two five-year terms, not least because as former president Robert McNamara once observed, for any newcomer it would take “two years to find your way around.