During his tenure, Carter, along with his counterpart at the International Monetary Fund, established himself as one of the most highly respected authorities on the Russian economy. He approved some $10 billion worth of financing for 32 projects and released four grants totaling $109.5 million ?€” making Russia the World Bank's second-biggest borrower. The most important loans include credits for restructuring the economy and reforming the social sphere as well as loans for restructuring the coal-mining sector.
Carter officially introduced his successor, fellow Briton Julian Schweitzer, at a ceremony Thursday. Schweitzer officially takes over the Bank's Moscow operation Jan. 1, when Carter moves on to run the Bank's operations in Poland and the Baltic States.
Carter leaves at a time when Russia and the World Bank are contemplating a new cooperation strategy, and the volatility of world oil prices threatens Russia's debt-servicing plans.
"If oil prices stay at their previous levels then the state must strengthen supervision of support for the ruble and the risk of inflation," Carter said at his farewell ceremony Thursday.
"This is a true dilemma for the government and in this situation a foundation must be created for the time when prices fall," he said.
Schweitzer said his main goal is to get the Bank's new Russian economic strategy through its board of directors no later than February. He said that if Russia eventually needs a fourth structural adjustment loan, or SAL-4, for restructuring the economy, the Bank won't consider a deal before April.
Schweitzer is a 16-year veteran of the Bank, serving mainly in Britain and India, and most recently held the position of deputy vice president for eastern Asia. He was witness to the Asian financial crisis of 1997, which caused the financial meltdown and default in Russia a year later. In this sense, Schweitzer and Russia are already acquainted.
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