Bank chief's exit illustrates failure to right a ship that has lost its way
Jim Yong Kim's departure signals that the World Bank is not effective at mobilising funds for infrastructure investment in poorer countries
For the head of the World Bank to quit unexpectedly would have been big news under any circumstances. But the reason outgoing president Jim Yong Kim gave for his resignation on Monday is even more revealing. Kim said he was leaving the world's most influential development and infrastructure-building agency to join a private-sector infrastructure investment fund because he believed "this is the path through which I will be able to make the largest impact on major global issues like climate change and the infrastructure deficit in emerging markets". One can hardly imagine a more potent indictment of the World Bank's role in the developing world than having its head vote with his feet. The truth is that Kim isn't wrong. The World Bank has simply not been effective enough at what is supposed to be its core task: mobilising funds for infrastructure investment in poorer countries. The financial gap that emerging markets have to bridge is huge; between $1-trillion and $1.5-trillion (R13-tr...
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