Leading Chinese economist Lin Yifu may become the senior vice
president and chief economist of the World Bank, Lin's assistant
confirmed to Xinhua on Friday.
"Lin is on a list of several candidates and the result (of
whether he will be elected) will come out next week," said Chen Xi,
Lin's assistant, at Peking University's China Center for Economic
Research (CCER). Lin is the founder and director of CCER.
If elected, the 55-year-old will be the first economist from a
developing country to hold the post, filling the vacancies left by
France's Francois Bourguignon, who had served at the bank from 2003
to October 2007.
Li Li, press official with the bank's representative office in
China, said she had no further information.
Predecessors in the post include world-famous economists such as
Standley Fischer, Lawrence Summers and Joseph Stiglitz.
"Lin's research field is development economics, which makes him
very suitable for the post," the Shanghai-based China Business
News on Friday quoted CCER professor Lu Feng as saying.
Lin well understood the making of China, the most prominent
developing economy in the last three decades, said Lu, adding that
he may help the World Bank enrich its development concept and
provide experience to other developing countries.
The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical
assistance to developing countries around the world. Its president
Robert Zoellick said last year the bank would seek closer
cooperation with China on global issues such as development in
other parts of the world, energy and climate change.
Lin, born in Taiwan, holds a doctorate in economics from the
University of Chicago. Last November, he became the first Chinese
scholar to speak at the world-renowned biennial Marshall Lectures
at Cambridge University.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2008)
