Bloated Salaries at the World Bank

The controversy involving Paul Wolfowitz  is seemingly devoid of any policy issues, but it has brought to light some of the exorbitant waste at the World Bank. Nearly 1,400 employees have salaries above the amount given to America’s secretary of state. But even that comparison is misleading, since World Bank bureaucrats get tax-free compensation.

The Wall Street Journal comments on the sweet deal — and virtual lifetime tenure — of the staff:

American taxpayers supply some 17% of the bank's capital, and a new round of fund raising for the bank's International Development Association is about to commence. If Congress is going to ante up the $7 billion or so the bank is expected to request, the least it can do is insist on more accountability….

Of its roughly 10,000 employees, no fewer than 1,396 have salaries higher than the U.S. Secretary of State; clearly "fighting poverty" does not mean taking a vow of poverty at "multilateral" institutions. At the time of Ms. Riza's departure from the bank, she was a Grade "G" (senior professional) employee; the typical salary in that grade hovers around the $124,000 mark. For the next level, Grade "H"—the level to which Ms. Riza was due to be promoted—salaries average in the $170,000 range, with an upper band of $232,360. No fewer than 17% of bank employees are in this happy bracket.

Even sweeter, all of this is tax-free to non-Americans. U.S. employees have to pay U.S. tax but have their income taxes reimbursed by the bank. As with any public bureaucracy, these jobs are also impossible to lose for anything other than gross incompetence or venality.