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Blair for World Bank chief post?

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Is the British Prime Minister Tony Blair likely to end up stepping into the shoes of the outgoing World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz after leaving Downing Street next month?

Speculation that the soon-to-retire Prime Minister could be the next World Bank chief was sparked after Joe Stiglitz, the eminent Nobel Prize-winning economist and a former senior vice-president of the Bank, reportedly told the BBC that Mr. Blair was one of the potential candidates being "discussed''.

"He is one of the people that is clearly being discussed," he told BBC Five Live, though he pointed out that in his own opinion an economist would be a better choice. He added that Mr. Blair had the "kinds of connections that one needs, that would be useful as head of the institution.''

Traditionally, the World Bank has been run by an American, as America is its largest shareholder.

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