World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim to step down on Feb 1

In a surprise move, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Monday announced that he will step down from his position on February 1.

Kim, 58, has been in this position for over six years now.

The president of the World Bank has always been an American citizen nominated by the United States, which is the largest shareholder of this multilateral financial institution.

"It has been a great honour 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.

Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO, will assume the role of interim President effective February 1.

"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, he said.

"Serving as President and helping position the institution squarely in the middle of all these challenges has been a great privilege," Kim said.