* Colombia’s Ocampo withdraws from World Bank contest
* U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim likely winner
* Russia says it supports Kim
By Lesley Wroughton and Tiago Pariz
WASHINGTON/BRASILIA, April 13 (Reuters) – Former Colombian
finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo ended his bid to become
World Bank president on Friday, leaving two candidates in an
unprecedented challenge to U.S. control of the global
development institution.
With the board of the World Bank to meet on Monday to pick a
new president, Ocampo said he hoped emerging-market nations
would rally behind Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
in a race that he said had turned highly political.
Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank managing director, is now
the sole candidate from developing nations in a race against
U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American health expert who
appears almost certain to secure the post.
Ocampo, who was nominated by Brazil, said his candidacy had
been “handicapped” by a lack of support from his own country.
Colombia said last month it was focusing on a bid for the
presidency of the International Labor Organization, where it had
a greater chance of success.
Continued…
