World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has resigned, more than three years before his term ends in 2022, the multilateral lender disclosed yesterday. Kim is expected to leave office on February 1.
Kim, 59, said that he will immediately join a firm and
focus on increasing infrastructure in developing countries. The bank did not provide further details.
“It’s been a great honor to serve as President of this remarkable institution, full of passionate individuals dedicated to the mission of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime,” Kim said in a statement yesterday.
“The world of the World Bank Group is more important now than ever as the aspirations of the poor rise all over the world, and problems like climate change, pandemics, famine and refugees continue to grow in both their scale and
complexity,” he added.Chief Executive Officer, Kristalina Georgieva will assume the role of interim president from February 1.
Kim, a South-Korean-born physician and anthropologist, raised in the United States, served as president of the World Bank since 2012. He was re-elected for a second five-year term that began in 2017.
Prior to taking the helm at the bank, he was the President of Dartmouth College, becoming the first Asian-American to lead the Ivy League institution.
He previously held posts at Harvard University and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he was known for his work combatting HIV/AIDS.
Kim, nominated by former U.S. President Barack Obama for two five-year terms, had pushed financing for green energy projects and largely dropped support for coal power investments, but had avoided public clashes with the Trump administration, which has made reviving the U.S. coal sector a priority.
Two people familiar with Kim's shock announcement to the World Bank executive board said he was leaving of his own accord and was "not pushed out" by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump, however, will wield strong influence in choosing Kim's successor as the United States holds a controlling share of the World Bank's voting rights.
The bank president has traditionally been an American chosen by the U.S. administration, but some of the multilateral lender's 189 member countries could mount a new challenge with alternative candidates. Korean-American Kim faced challengers from Nigeria and Colombia when he was first nominated in 2012.
GUYS, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
FACEBOOK COMMENTS
Niyeck Nandack
I expect anothe American to take over.There is a non written agreement between super powers since the end of the second world war that the Breton Woods institutions will always be headed by USA and France.
World Bank by an American and IMF by a French. But they always hold "elections" just to play to the gallery.
World Bank by an American and IMF by a French. But they always hold "elections" just to play to the gallery.
Endy Edeson
Niyeck; Are you saying that, had it been KIM wasn't raised in America, he wouldnt have been World Bank president , since he is originally from South Korea?
Ben Otas
High politics in play. Until we see the successor we cannot be certain with respect to the reasons behind his decision
Treasure Samson
That is cool naija won die 4 office