The US administration signalled its weakening support for the WB president, facing calls to resign over a favoritism row, saying every option had to be discussed.
WASHINGTON: In a major shift, the US has signalled it would consider a change in leadership at the World Bank if Paul Wolfowitz decides to resign voluntarily, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Until now, the White House had voiced unwavering support for the besieged World Bank president, but US officials Tuesday also suggested Wolfowitz's ability to lead the institution may be fading, said the report.
The US is willing to consider "all options," including Wolfowitz's resignation, as part of "a resolution of the question of what is best for the future of the institution," the report quoted a White House official as saying.
"This has certainly been a bruising episode to the bank and what you have to do is to figure out a way forward to maintain the integrity of the institution, and therefore when you do it you discuss everything," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
He added the administration of President George W. Bush still supported Wolfowitz, who late Tuesday pleaded with the World Bank board of directors to let him stay on in the post he has held for two years.
Snow said Wolfowitz had made mistakes in a pay and promotions package awarded to his girlfriend, a fellow World Bank staffer, but that was "not a firing offence".
The White House overture could provide Wolfowitz with a face-saving way to bow out of the institution, allowing him to avoid being formally dismissed by the bank's board, said the report.
Down the road, it could also ensure the White House retains its influence in picking a successor, since the US would be seen as opening the door for Wolfowitz's departure, the report added.
Wolfowitz, former US deputy defence secretary, has been under fire for his involvement in a pay-and-promotion package for his girlfriend Shaha Riza, a former bank employee. The bank president has admitted granting Riza the package on advice from an ethics board at the bank.
Though prominent officials from Europe to Latin America have publicly called on Wolfowitz to resign, a decisive vote would break sharply with the bank's consensus minded culture, while presenting difficult questions over the procedure of appointing its president.
Never in the six decades of the World Bank's existence has the board removed the institution's leader, who by tradition is selected by the president of the US, the bank's largest shareholder.
The board of executive directors was to meet later on Wednesday to continue deliberations on Wolfowitz's fate.
But State Department spokesman Tom Casey warned that "the bank is bigger than any individuals, past, present or future". "It's doing important work in terms of helping to alleviate poverty in the world and helping to work with countries on a number of very important programmes and I expect that to continue," Casey added.
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