Italy’s Padoan pulls out of race to be EBRD president

Italy’s former Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has pulled out of the race to be president of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a source close to the matter said on Wednesday.

Padoan and French Treasury head Odile Renaud-Basso had been seen as the front runners for the position. Poland’s Finance Minister Tadeusz Koscinski is also in the race.

The EBRD’s board of governors will elect a new president to succeed Britain’s Suma Chakrabarti during its annual meeting on Thursday. To be elected, a candidate has to receive the votes of a majority of governors, who should represent not less than a majority of the total voting power of members.

The EBRD was set up in 1991 to invest in the ex-communist economies of eastern Europe and now operates in 38 economies across three continents.