NZer quits as World Bank manager

Graeme Wheeler

New Zealander Graeme Wheeler has announced his resignation as managing director of the World Bank.

Wheeler, who joined the Washington-based development institution in 1997 from the New Zealand Treasury, said he was leaving to pursue new career opportunities.

He first joined the World Bank as director of its newly established financial-services department and was promoted to treasurer in 2001. He has been managing director for four years.

In 2007 he was reported to be among the leading contenders to replace Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president when Wolfowitz quit following a scandal over a generous pay and promotion package he arranged for his girlfriend, a bank employee.

But the position had always been held by an American, and the tradition was upheld when former US trade representative Robert Zoellick was appointed president.

Wheeler said it had been a "great privilege to work in this fine institution".

He led the bank's engagement with the G20 and G7 economic powers and the International Monetary Fund, playing a pivotal role in the bank's response to the global financial crisis.

Zoellick said: "He has made a major contribution to corporate-wide initiatives, leading the strategic effort to strengthen knowledge management and spearheading creation of the new internal justice system."

Wheeler is also the author of a book Sound Practice in Government Debt Management.

- NZPA