Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winning economist and former senior vice president and chief economist at the Bank, told BBC radio that Blair "is one of the people that is clearly being discussed."

Blair has just held talks with US President George W. Bush in Washington on a range of foreign policy issues.

A spokesman for Blair, who leaves office June 27, declined to comment on the remarks, which come after World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz announced he would step down on June 30 to end a favoritism scandal.

"There is a large amount of wild and, in the main, inaccurate speculation out there and it is not going to be wise for us to comment on any of it," said the spokesman.

Stiglitz said the World Bank could appoint Blair.

"It wouldn't rule him out," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"But I would say that if I were going through a first-priority list of priorities, it would probably begin with somebody with real experience in development," he said.

As a former political leader however, Blair did have the kinds of connections that one needed, he added. "That would be useful as head of the institution."

In the meantime, the planet's biggest development organisation is under pressure to end the tradition whereby the poverty-fighting bank is always led by an American and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by a European.