Efforts to do so, he said, gave rise to the risk "that the World Bank was seen as de-emphasising its responsibility to provide for lending in terms of the millennium development goals (which aim to halve poverty by 2015), or supporting development and for overemphasising the battle against corruption."

Manuel said it was important to emphasise that no one underestimated the importance of dealing with corruption, but that it could not be conflated with a campaign for better governance.

He said that if World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz's proposals had gone through unchecked, loans that had been approved could be terminated because "somebody in the bank said there was corruption".

"One must find the balance," Manuel said. One area where balance is being sought is in prosecutions in bribery cases, with a strong push for businessmen who offer bribes to be punished just as those who take the bribes are.

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