Obama picks Jim Yong Kim as World Bank chief

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WASHINGTON, 23 March 2012; US President Barack Obama made an unusual and what some described as an ’’inspired’’ pick for the post of World Bank President, nominating Korean-American physician-anthropologist Jim Yong Kim for a job that in the past has typically been awarded to a US establishment figure.

Obama, who himself broke the US political mold by becoming the country’s first mixed-race President, made known his surprise choice shortly before he embarked on a visit to South Korea for the nuclear security summit, where he will also meet India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Kim was born in South Korea and grew up in Iowa, and is currently President of Dartmouth College, the first Asian-American to head an Ivy League school.

He is also a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization (WHO) and holds a medical degree and a doctorate in anthropology, both from Harvard University.

Although the World Bank Presidency is a US preserve by convention (with the IMF leadership going to the Europe), several Indian names were in the mix this time as Washington came under pressure to relinquish its hold on the job. Among the names bandied around were the now infamous Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, and Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi. More fancied candidates included Columbia University development economist Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard University don Lawrence Summers, and Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

But President Obama chose the middle ground while still going off the beaten track, picking an Asian-American with a background in global health rather than an America-born economic maven to head what he called the ’’world’s largest development agency.’’ Kim will replace Robert Zoellick, who like many of his predecessors ( Paul Wolfowitz, Robert McNamara etc) came from the US power base. Zoellick, who plans to step down in June after just one five-year term, is expected to visit India later this month on what could be a farewell visit.

Kim’s nomination will further raise the profile of South Korea, a country which has developed at great speed over the last three decades while leaving peers-turned-stragglers like India far behind. The US also backed South Korean Ban Ki Moon to head the United Nations.

Kim, who was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the ’’Genius grant’’) in 2003, co-founded Partners in Health, a nonprofit organization that provides health care for the poor, particularly HIV/AIDS patients in Africa.

Former US President Bill Clinton, among others, described Kim as an ’’inspired and outstanding choice’’ based on his years of commitment and leadership to development and particularly health care and AIDS treatment across the world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was among those whose name had also been bandied around for the World Bank Presidency.