Jim Yong Kim resigns as World Bank President

The President of World Bank, Jim Yong Kim has resigned. He announced his resignation saying he would leave office on February 1. In his resignation letter he wrote “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.

“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,” Kim said in a statement. It was not clear why Kim suddenly announced his departure when he had more than 3 years left in his tenure. He was first elected president in 2010 and got reelected in 2017 for another 5-year term. Kristalina Georgieva, the chief executive of the World Bank, will take over as interim president when he departs.