U.S. keeps World Bank leadership
The World Bank on Monday chose South Korean-born U.S. health expert Jim Yong Kim as its new president, maintaining Washington’s grip on the job and leaving developing countries questioning the selection process.
Kim, 52, won the job over Nigeria’s widely respected finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-iweala, with the support of Canada and Washington’s allies in Western Europe, Japan and some emerging market economies, including Russia, Mexico and South Korea.
Unlike previous World Bank elections, the decision was not unanimous. “The final nominees received support from different member countries, which reflected the high calibre of the candidates,” the bank said in announcing its board’s decision.
Kim, president of Dartmouth College, will assume his new post on July 1 when Robert Zoellick, steps down.
The U.S. has held the presidency since the World Bank’s founding after the Second World War. A European has always led its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund.
Unlike previous heads of the World Bank, Kim is not a politician, a banker or diplomat. He is a trained physician and anthropologist who has worked to bring health care to the poor in developing countries, whether fighting tuberculosis in Haiti and Peru or tackling HIV/AIDS in Russian prisons.
There had been a three-way contest for the presidency of the povertyfighting institution until Friday when former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo withdrew.