The World Bank
1 July 2012. Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the Dartmouth College president, was tapped by President Obama to head the World Bank. According to Forbes Kim will not be able to fix the corruption and dysfunction which is so deeply ingrained in the bank. With very little oversight from the funding nations and with a $57 billion air portfolio for 2011, muddled objectives and failure to contain corruption, a decade of reform efforts have done little to fix the World Bank.
Even after outgoing president Robert Zoellick implemented a budget freeze some officials operated an off-budget system that defies cost control, while others used revolving doors to game the system to make fortunes for themselves or enhance their positions within the bank. Bank sources cite up to $2 billion that may have gone unaccounted for recently amid computer glitches.
o one, starting with outgoing president Robert Zoellick, has laid out an articulated vision for what the World Bank’s role is in the 21st century. China remains one of the bank’s largest and most valued clients, even as it doles out development money to other countries and bullies the bank from aggressively investigating corruption.
Only the funding nations can bring transparency and set clear objectives for the bank to remain useful for its intended purpose.
