World Bank head quits, Donald Trump likely to determine successor

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has announced that he is stepping down as the head of the premier antipoverty institution putting the likely choice of its future leadership in the hands of US President Donald Trump a sceptic of international developmentTrumps role is expected to reinvigorate challenges to Washingtons monopoly on appointing the Banks head Announcing his decision on Monday Kim said in a tweet Its been the greatest privilege I could have ever imagined to lead the dedicated staff of this great institution to bring us closer to a world that is finally free of povertyKim 59 who is dropping out 19 months into his second term on February 1 would be joining a private company and focus on infrastructure investments in developing countries the Bank said The Banks CEO Kristalina Georgieva will become the interim president till a successor to Kim is appointedAs the largest shareholder the US by tradition appoints the head of the Bank while Europeans determine the chief of the International Monetary Fund Kim was nominated for the job by former President Barack Obama in 2012Before Trumps election Kim was hastily reappointed in September 2016 to a second term that began in July 2017 with an eye on preempting a possible Trump nominee getting the job Now however Trump will get an opportunity to nominate the Banks headTrumps role will resurrect and strong challenges to the postWorld War II model of the leadership of the 189member bank that has always been determined by the USAlready the US nominee was challenged for the first time in 2012 by two contendersColombian economist Jose Antonio Ocampo Gaviria eventually withdrew from the race while Nigerias thenFinance Minister Ngozi OkonjoIweala lost when the Banks directors rubberstamped Kims appointmentNow there will be robust demands for reconsidering the US leadership of the Bank and stronger nonAmerican contenders for the job Kim a South Koreaborn US citizen was an unusual leader for the Bank He was a medical doctor by training a specialist in public health and an academic with a Harvard doctorate in anthropology who had led the Ivy League Dartmouth CollegeBut his background in health was a plus for the Banks mission of fighting poverty and promoting development Under his leadership the Bank adopted in tandem with the UN the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and focusing on the bottom 40 per cent of the population in the developing worldThe Banks International Development Association which funds programmes in the least developed countries achieved two record replenishments during his tenure the last one in 2016 for 75 billion Last April the Bank also increased its capital by 13 billion with the unexpected support of the Trump administrationKim also pushed the Banks cooperation with the private sector for financing development in the developing world particularly in the areas of climate change and infrastructure China though a part of the World Bank has thrown a challenge to it by setting up its own development banking institutionsThe Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank AIIB founded in 2016 is one of those institutions and several countries including India Germany Britain and South Korea have joined itCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever