INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
amid differences with Trump administration over climate change and need for more development resources.Kim, appointed twice by former US
President Barack Obama for five-year terms, had pushed financing for green energy projects and largely dropped support for coal power
investments, but had avoided public clashes with Trump administration, which has made reviving U.S
coal sector a priority.Just last month, World Bank announced it would double its investments to fight climate change to around $200 billion
over next five years.Kim told World Bank employees in an email that he was leaving world's largest lender and donor to poor and
middle-income countries on February 1 to join a private-sector firm focused on infrastructure investments in developing world."The
opportunity to join private sector was unexpected, but I've concluded that this is path through which I will be able to make largest impact
on major global issues like climate change and infrastructure deficit in emerging markets," Kim said.Kim said details about his new job
The physician and former Dartmouth College president said he would also rejoin board of Partners in Health, a health advocacy group he
co-founded 30 years ago.Kristalina Georgieva, who in 2017 became World Bank's chief executive officer, will assume role of interim president
when Kim departs, bank said
Georgieva, a Bulgarian national, had previously held senior European Union posts after serving 15 years at World Bank, starting as an
environmental economist in 1993.Two people familiar with Kim's shock announcement to World Bank executive board said he was leaving of his
own accord and was "not pushed out" by Trump administration.President Donald Trump, however, will wield strong influence in choosing Kim's
successor as United States holds a controlling share of World Bank's voting rights.The bank president has traditionally been an American
chosen by US administration, but some of multilateral lender's 189 member countries could mount a new challenge with alternative
candidates.Mark Sobel, a former US executive director at International Monetary Fund and a longtime former US Treasury official, said
chances were high for a challenge from bigger emerging market countries such as Brazil or China, which have been clamouring for more
influence in multilateral institutions commensurate with their economic clout."The world is suspicious of Trump administration, which has a
different agenda for bank," Sobel said in a phone interview
"If they were to put forward somebody that is hardline, that would engender a reaction and antipathy."The World Bank's board will still need
his fellow governors in selecting a new leader."David Malpass, Treasury's undersecretary for international affairs, has questioned need for
additional resources for World Bank and other international financial institutions, arguing instead that lenders should focus more of their
resources on poorer countries and lend less to middle-income countries such as China.Nonetheless, Treasury backed a $13 billion capital
increase for World Bank last year, which imposed some lending and management reforms, including some caps to rate of salary increases.
