World Bank announces three candidates for top job

The World Bank announced Friday three candidates to succeed outgoing president Robert Zoellick, one nominated by the United States and two others from developing countries.The candidates were identified as Jim Yong Kim, a US national and president of Dartmouth College; Jose Antonio Ocampo, a Colombian national and professor at Columbia University; and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian national and finance minister of Nigeria.

The Bank’s board of executive directors said the “three nominees will be considered for the position.”
The announcement came shortly after the closure of the nominating period at 6 pm (2200 GMT).
Under the selection process previously announced, the executive directors will conduct formal interviews of the three candidates in Washington during the following weeks.

The World Bank said it expected to selecting the new president “by consensus” by its 2012 Spring Meetings with the International Monetary Fund that begin on April 20. Zoellick plans to step down at the end of his term in June.