WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World Bank (news - web sites) President James Wolfensohn said on Sunday that he expected the White House to select a new World Bank leader this year as he completes 10 years as chief of the international lender.
There has been speculation for weeks in Washington over the future of Wolfensohn, a Clinton appointee whose second five-year term expires in June. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick was mentioned as a possible replacement.
"I've had 10 years and that's probably enough," Wolfensohn said on ABC-TV's "This Week" program, when asked if he wanted to stay at the bank. "But if the need is there, I'll do whatever the shareholders want.
"My understanding and my belief is that probably during the course of this year, I'll give over to someone else."
By informal agreement among the 184 shareholder nations that finance the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (news - web sites), an American heads the World Bank and a European runs the IMF (news - web sites).
In recent weeks, Wolfensohn told World Bank employees to "expect clarity" on his tenure early in 2005. With his re-election, President (George W.) Bush has the opportunity to decide who will lead the bank, which provides loans and expert advice to developing nations.
Wolfensohn, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Australia, has been credited with training the spotlight on global poverty, advancing debt relief to the world's poorest nations and tackling corruption of bank funds. But his relations with the Bush administration have been tense, especially over how World Bank aid is financed and distributed.