“It has been a great honour to serve as President of this remarkable institution, full of passionate individuals dedicated to the mission of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime," Kim was quoted as saying.
Five years and 18 months after, Korean-American, Jim Yong Kim, says its time to step down as President of the World bank Group.
A statement by the global development finance institution on Monday gave February 1, 2019, as the date Kim is expected to resign. The release said World bank CEO, Kristalina Georgieva will fill in in acting capacity.
The group, which has the United States of America as its major shareholder, said it worked towards a two-pronged goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, and boosting shared prosperity, focusing on the bottom 40 per cent of the population in developing countries under Kim’s leadership.
It described its two key achievements under Kim as getting record replenishments for the International Development Agency and the raise of $13billion for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
“It has been a great honour to serve as President of this remarkable institution, full of passionate individuals dedicated to the mission of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime," Kim was quoted as saying.
“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.”
While noting the steps its outgoing president put in motion to even out investments and guard against climate shocks.
The statement continued: “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 USD$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. Recognizing the power of capital markets to transform development finance, the Bank Group during Kim’s tenure also launched several new innovative financial instruments, including facilities to address infrastructure needs, prevent pandemics, and help the millions of people forcibly displaced from their homes by climate shocks, conflict, and violence. The Bank is also working with the United Nations and leading technology companies to implement the Famine Action Mechanism, to detect warning signs earlier and prevent famines before they begin.
"During his term, President Kim emphasized that one of the greatest needs in the developing world is infrastructure finance, and he pushed the Bank Group to maximize finance for development by working with a new cadre of private sector partners committed to building sustainable, climate-smart infrastructure in developing countries.”