The American economist David Malpass has been elected the new president of the World Bank. The 63-year-old American is known as a loyal supporter of Donald Trump, with whom he shares an aversion to major international institutions.
Malpass was the economic adviser to the Trump campaign team during the 2016 US presidential election. He has recently held a senior position within the Ministry of Finance, where he dealt with international economic affairs.
There was a lot of speculation about the new boss of the World Bank. Ivanka Trump was mentioned as a possible candidate. But that was soon contradicted by the White House. The American presidential daughter was allowed to accompany the nomination process in the United States, because she worked closely with the leadership of the World Bank for the past two years.
He was the only candidate
The World Bank is the world’s largest institute for development cooperation. There is a kind of gentlemen’s agreement that the Americans can designate the head of the World Bank, while the Europeans can appoint the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Malpass was therefore the only candidate formally nominated for the post.
The previous World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, who was appointed under the reign of Barack Obama, announced his departure early this year. He has been observed on an interim basis in recent months by Kristalina Georgieva. That former European Commissioner has been working at the top of the World Bank for some time.
Nicholas de Krammer, а self-taught economic analytic with heave mathematical background. Math behind the economics (and economics behind math) is the strong side of the author. Contact him at nicholas.dekramer@economicinform.com
