The Financial Times reported that the Bank’s governing body had “endorsed the anti-corruption paper”, but also “made it clear that this was not the final word, and asked Mr Wolfowitz to report again to shareholders in the spring”.

Ministers said their board representatives would oversee the plan’s implementation “in a reflection of concern among some countries that Wolfowitz is being overzealous”, according to Reuters. The news agency also quoted British development secretary Hilary Benn as insisting, “It’s clear that the board oversees its implementation.”

The International Herald Tribune reported a progressively “deeper and bitter” rift in the Bank’s discussions. The “backlash” was attributed by the paper to a concern that countries labelled as corrupt would find lending “shut off in an arbitrary or selective way”. A former vice president of the bank, Roberto Danino, also was quoted noting: “getting rid of corruption is not a silver bullet”.