Jim Yong Kim resigns as head of World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva steps in

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will be stepping down from his position in February 2019.
His resignation is coming after more than six years as head of the World Bank Group and two years before expiration of tenure.
He will be joining an investment banking firm soon.
Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO, will assume the role of interim President effective February 1.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Monday announced that he will be stepping down from his position after more than six years.

The international lender in a statement issued on Monday, January 7, 2019, says Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO, will assume the role of interim President effective February 1.

With the immediate departure, Kim will join a firm and focus on increasing infrastructure investments in developing countries, the World Bank said the details will be provided at a later time.

In addition to working on infrastructure investments, Kim announced that he will also be re-joining the board of Partners In Health (PIH), an organisation he co-founded more than 30 years ago.

“It has 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,” said Kim.

“The work 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. Serving as President and helping position the institution squarely in the middle of all these challenges has been a great privilege.”

World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva The Eagle Online

The statement added that under Kim’s leadership, and with the backing of the Bank Group’s 189 member countries, the institution in 2012 established two goals: to end extreme poverty by 2030; and to boost shared prosperity, focusing on the bottom 40 percent of the population in developing countries. These goals now guide and inform the institution in its daily work around the globe.

“In addition, shareholders strongly supported measures to ensure that the Bank Group be even better positioned to respond to the development needs of clients:

The Bank Group’s Fund for the Poorest, IDA, achieved two successive, record replenishments, which enabled the institution to increase its work in areas suffering from fragility, conflict, and violence.
In April 2018, the Bank Group’s Governors overwhelmingly approved a historic $13 billion capital increase for IBRD and IFC that will allow the Bank Group to support countries in reaching their development goals while responding to crises such as climate change, pandemics, fragility, and underinvestment in human capital around the world.

Over the past 6+ years, the institutions of the World Bank Group have provided financing at levels never seen outside of a financial crisis."

Jim Yong Kim moves on as investment banker

Kim's next assignment may be on the African soil or some Middle East nations with the focus on increasing infrastructure investments. Business Insider Sub-Saharan Africa cannot immediately confirm details of the new role as well as company Kim will working with.

Jim Yong Kim resigns as head of World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva steps in

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