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 United States 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 would be released later
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
working with 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
