World Bank begins process of selecting new President

World Bank on Thursday said it has commenced a process that will lead to the selection of a new president.

The commencement of the process follows the sudden exit last Monday of the incumbent president, Mr Jim Yong Kim, who announced he would be stepping down from his position effective February 1, 2019.

Kim’s announcement came more than three years ahead of the scheduled end of his tenure in 2022.

Since the announcement, World Bank’s CEO, Kristalina Georgieva, was announced as the person to assume the role of the interim president effective February 1.

On Thursday the Bank in a statement said its Board of Executive Directors met on Wednesday, January 9, under the chairmanship of its dean, Merza Hasan, to discuss the selection process for the next President.

While expressing appreciation to Kim for his leadership of the World Bank Group and the significant accomplishments of the Bank during his tenure, the Executive Directors affirmed the Board’s commitment to an open, merit-based and transparent selection process.

“The Executive Directors agreed that candidates should be committed to the implementation of the Forward Look and the capital package agreement as articulated in the Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development Paper,” the statement said.

The directors spelled out the criteria prospective candidates for the president should meet before selection.

They include a proven track record of leadership; experience of managing large organizations with international exposure, and a familiarity with the public sector; the ability to articulate a clear vision of the World Bank Group’s development mission; a firm commitment to and appreciation for multilateral cooperation; and effective and diplomatic communication skills, impartiality and objectivity in the performance of the responsibilities of the position.

The directors also set the deadline for the submission of nominations starting from “February 7 by 9 A.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and ending on March 14 by 9 A.M. EST.

They said the nominations may be made by Executive Directors, or by Governors through their Executive Director, while candidates must be nationals of the Bank’s member countries.

At the close of the nomination period, the executive directors said they would publish a shortlist of three candidates along with their consent, while formal interviews would be conducted for all the candidates with the expectation of selecting the new President before the Spring Meetings of 2019.

The President of the World Bank is ex officio chair of the Board of the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

The President is also ex officio chair of the Board of Directors of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the Administrative Council of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).