Bush has 'full confidence' in Wolfowitz: White House

WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush has "full confidence" in embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Monday.   

Wolfowitz, a key architect of the war in Iraq, clung to his job Monday after a stormy week of revelations on a pay scandal involving his girlfriend that is to be examined soon by the organization's board of directors.   

"The president does have full confidence in Paul Wolfowitz. He has done a very good job at the World Bank, where they are working to lift people up out of poverty around the world," Perino said.   

"He's focussed on Africa and other areas around the world that need the World Bank's attention. And the president continues to have confidence in him," she said.   

The board, set to meet this week to consider the implications of the hefty pay hikes given to Wolfowitz's partner from World Bank coffers, is facing increasing pressure on the scandal.   

Asked whether Bush believed Wolfowitz had shown good judgment in directing that his Libyan-born partner, Shaha Riza, get a bank pay deal worth nearly 200,000 dollars, Perino demurred.   

"What he knows is that Paul Wolfowitz has apologized and the board at the World Bank is undergoing a review. And I think I'll have to leave there," she said.