This Saturday the Inter-American Development Bank released the list of candidates among which they will define the head of the credit institution on November 20. Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Trinidad and Tobago presented applicants, and of them the Argentine applicant is the only woman to replace American Mauricio Clever-Caronedismissed on September 26 by the IDB Board of Governors.
Argentina proposed Cecilia Todesca Boccocurrent Secretary of International Economic Relations, who will be the only woman aspiring to the position.
The nomination period closed this Friday and Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Brazil and Chile are the countries that presented candidates for the position, according to the IDB in a press release.
Since the dismissal of Clever-Calone, the multilateral credit organization has been interim chaired by the Honduran Queen Irene Mejía, the first woman to head it since its creation in 1959.
In the case of Mexicothe applicant will have a doctorate in economics from Harvard University, Gerard Esquivelwho currently serves on the governing board of the central bank of that country (Banxico).
Chile, meanwhile, opted for Nicolás Eyzaguirreformer Minister of Finance in the presidencies of Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet, while Trinidad and Tobago presented Gerard Johnson, a former IDB official.
For its part, the outgoing Brazilian government of Jair Bolsonaro proposed to Ilan Goldfajnformer president of the Central Bank of Brazil and current director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Until the last minute, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s transition team disagreed with Goldfajn’s nomination and aspired to present his own name.
According to sources consulted by the Bloomberg agency, the president-elect’s team has asked the leaders of the IDB to postpone the election to present a new candidate.
Different sources indicated that the Joe Biden administration in the United States does not plan to appoint a candidacy since it considers that the candidate should come from Latin America, as was tradition.
The decision distances itself from former President Donald Trump’s policy of appointing the American Clever-Carone in 2020, the first from that country to hold the position.
The governors of the IDB, officials from the 48 member countries of the organization, will interview the candidates in a virtual meeting this Sunday, according to the entity.
Subsequently, the election will be held at a hybrid meeting of the Board of Governors on November 20.
To be elected, the candidate – who will hold office for five years with the possibility of being re-elected only once – must obtain a majority of votes, which vary from country to country according to the number of shares in the institution.
The United States, Argentina and Brazil have the upper hand, together holding almost 53% of the voting rights.
