World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, is set to resign effective from Feb. 1, two years after being re-elected as president of the bank.
59-year-old Jim Yong Kim will be retiring more than three years ahead of the expiration of his term in 2022.
He announced that he will immediately join a firm and focus on increasing infrastructure in developing countries, but the bank did not provide further details.
Kristalina Georgieva, the World Bank’s chief executive officer, will assume the role of interim president when Kim departs.
The Korean-born American will leave the role at the end of January, the Washington-based World Bank said in a statement.
The resignation comes as a surprise, as Kim was voted in for a second five-year term in the role in 2016.