World Bank chief seeks refocus

[Joanne98]

World Bank chief seeks refocus
By Krishna Guha in Washington

Published: April 6 2007 22:06 | Last updated: April 7 2007 00:06

The World Bank is carrying out a review that will lead to the aid agency cutting back or even abandoning some activities to focus resources where they can be most effective, Paul Wolfowitz told the Financial Times.

The World Bank president said he had charged François Bour-guignon, its chief economist, with drawing up the new strategy for the world’s biggest multilateral aid agency. While Mr Wolfowitz refuses to prejudge the review, many bank officials think it is engaged in too wide a range of social sector projects and want it focus more on promoting economic growth.

Mr Wolfowitz said the review team would consult widely but would not shy away from tough choices.

The review will be welcomed by the bank’s shareholder governments, which have pressed Mr Wolfowitz to provide more clarity and detail on his plans for the aid agency. But it will unleash a storm of lobbying from non-governmental organisations anxious that the bank should continue to support their own favoured areas of operation.

The review comes as Mr Wolfowitz is mired in renewed internal controversy, this time over terms extended to Shaha Riza, his partner, when she was seconded from the bank to the US State Department. The dispute escalated on Friday when a spokesman for the then chairman of the bank’s ethics committee told the FT that it did not approve Ms Riza’s package, which included a big pay rise.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d7697e26-e471-11db-bf06-000b5df10621.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. Away from hiring his girlfriend at a high salary? nt

[whistle]

2. That new strategy for the World Bank is already documented in PNAC

...to make the United States of America the strongest military power in the world and to fund that strategy from every possible source including the World Bank.

[Joanne98]

4. But, there is resistance to that plan...

[pscot]

3. Wolfowitz refocused $60,000 to his girlfriend

Her pay jumped from 136,000 to 193,000 (net) when she was detailed to the state department. She's making more than her nominal boss, Condi Rice.

[soothsayer]

5. if she could focus, she wouldn't be his girlfriend!

he pays her 60k to keep her glasses off.