World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim recently announced that he will be stepping down from his position after more than six years in which the institution's shareholders provided strong support to multiple initiatives to ensure that the Bank Group retains strong leadership in the world of global development. 

"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."

Kim has announced that, immediately after his departure, he will join a firm and focus on increasing infrastructure investments in developing countries. In addition to working on infrastructure investments, Kim announced that he will also be re-joining the board of Partners In Health (PIH), an organization he co-founded more than 30 years ago. 

The World Bank has said that new position will be announced shortly. Meanwhile, Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO, will assume the role of interim President effective February 1.

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