* 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 on Friday withdrew his
candidacy for World Bank president, leaving two candidates in a
race that he said had turned highly political.
With the World Bank board meeting on Monday to pick a new
president, Ocampo said he hoped emerging market nations would
rally behind one candidate, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala.
Okonjo-Iweala 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 win
the post.
Ocampo said his candidacy had been “handicapped” by a lack
of support from his own country.
“It is clear that the process is shifting from a strict
merit-based competition, in which my candidacy stood on strong
grounds, into a more political-oriented exercise,” he said in a
statement.
Continued…
