Outrage over Bush World Bank nominee

PRESIDENT Bush's nominee for the top job at the World Bank, US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, has outraged development economists and activists, who say he is unqualified for the job. Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs said there were many people in the US and around the world with expertise in development economics, but Wolfowitz was not one of them.

'We need someone with professional experience in helping people to escape from poverty. Mr Wolfowitz does not have that track record,' he said.

John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think-tank, said: 'If the Bush administration wanted to poke a finger into the eye of every nation on Earth, it couldn't have made a better choice.'

Wolfowitz's nomination aroused particular concerns in Europe because of his key role as an architect of the war in Iraq.

But Wolfowitz's supporters say his experience as a Johns Hopkins University dean and as US ambassador to Indonesia gave him valuable skills.

'I think he is going to surprise people and turn out to be quite effective,' said Peter Timmer, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington.