Leading Chinese economist Lin Yifu may become the senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, Lin's assistant confirmed to Xinhua on Friday.

"Lin is on a list of several candidates and the result (of whether he will be elected) will come out next week," said Chen Xi, Lin's assistant, at Peking University's China Center for Economic Research (CCER). Lin is the founder and director of CCER.

If elected, the 55-year-old will be the first economist from a developing country to hold the post, filling the vacancies left by France's Francois Bourguignon, who had served at the bank from 2003 to October 2007.

Li Li, press official with the bank's representative office in China, said she had no further information.

Predecessors in the post include world-famous economists such as Standley Fischer, Lawrence Summers and Joseph Stiglitz.

"Lin's research field is development economics, which makes him very suitable for the post," the Shanghai-based China Business News on Friday quoted CCER professor Lu Feng as saying.

Lin well understood the making of China, the most prominent developing economy in the last three decades, said Lu, adding that he may help the World Bank enrich its development concept and provide experience to other developing countries.

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Its president Robert Zoellick said last year the bank would seek closer cooperation with China on global issues such as development in other parts of the world, energy and climate change.

Lin, born in Taiwan, holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. Last November, he became the first Chinese scholar to speak at the world-renowned biennial Marshall Lectures at Cambridge University.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2008)