The president of the World Bank, David Malpass, announced this Wednesday that he would leave his position on June 30, one year in advance, in full reform of the institution, in a hurry to do more on the climate issue.
The group “is fundamentally sound, financially viable and well placed to increase its development impact in the face of pressing global crises,” he said in a statement, seeing it as “an opportunity for a smooth leadership transition.”
The reasons for Malpass’s resignation, scheduled for June 30, almost a year before the end of his term, were not specified. He, in a note sent to the World Bank teams, spoke of “new challenges.”
Accused of being climatosceptic
He had recently come under fire from critics, accused by former US Vice President Al Gore of being a climate skeptic and failing to push funding for climate projects in developing countries.
During a round table organized by the New York Times the next day, David Malpass refused three times to say whether he recognized the role of fossil fuels in global warming.
However, many member countries of the World Bank are pushing for the institution to be a force in matters, in particular, of climate change. Environmental organizations have also welcomed his march.
“I thank David Malpass for his service as President of the World Bank and for his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
For his successor, however, the minister called for a “transparent, merit-based and fast appointment process.”
In 2019, in fact, the candidacy of David Malpass had been proposed by Donald Trump, then president, and who held a position of responsibility within the administration. However, two years earlier he had publicly described international institutions as wasteful, “not very efficient” and “often corrupt in their lending practices.”
Source: BFM TV
