By Nick Mann | 17 April 2012

US national Dr Jim Yong Kim has been chosen as the next president of the World Bank, beating Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to become the twelfth holder of the post.

Kim, who was the US nominee, will succeed outgoing president Robert Zoellick and begin his five-year term on July 1.

The South Korean-born health expert said he was ‘honoured’ to be chosen for the role by the World Bank’s executive directors. ‘As president, I will seek a new alignment of the World Bank Group with a rapidly changing world,’ he said.

‘Together, with partners old and new, we will foster an institution that responds effectively to the needs of its diverse clients and donors; delivers more powerful results to support sustained growth; prioritises evidence-based solutions over ideology; amplifies the voices of developing countries; and draws on the expertise and experience of the people we serve.’

The choice of Kim continues the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between the US and Europe, under which a US citizen has headed the World Bank since 1944, while the managing director of the International Monetary Fund is a European.

In the build-up to yesterday’s announcement, pressure had increased for the US to end its monopoly of the post and for the developing world to be given more say in the selection process. A third candidate for the post, Colombian José Antonio Ocampo, dropped out of the race on Friday.

And following the decision to select Kim, Oxfam’s Elizabeth Stuart said: ‘Dr Kim is an excellent choice for World Bank president and a true development hero. But we’ll never know if he was the best candidate for the job, because there was no true and fair competition.

‘The world deserved better than a selection process with a foregone conclusion. Poor and emerging countries are insisting the Bank be more accountable and open in how it does business. This sham process has damaged the institution, and sullied Dr Kim’s appointment.’