Jim Yong Kim OVER HEAD Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala AS WORLD BANK PRESIDENT

Jim Yong Kim emerged as the world band president,however becoming the first physician and Asian-American to head the post,the market failed to us monopoly in the world bank system.

The World Bank board of directors said today it chose Dartmouth College President Kim to succeed Robert Zoellick, whose term ends June 30. A specialist in HIV/AIDS with a Ph.D. in anthropology, Kim, 52, faced rival bids from Nigeria and Colombia. Kim, president of Dartmouth College, will assume his new post on July 1 after the Bank's current president, Robert Zoellick, steps down.There had been a three-way contest for the presidency of the poverty-fighting institution until Friday when former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo withdrew. He said the process, which was meant to be based solely on credentials, had become highly political..

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan welcomed the fact that non-Americans competed for the post for the first time, but also said there were concerns the process was not fully merit-based.

                                              HISTORY OF JIM YONG KIM

Kim, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, breaks the mold of World Bank presidents, who have been drawn from government and finance. Kim, who was born in Korea and grew up in the U.S., has pledged to be a bridge between developed and advanced economies at the poverty-fighting institution, which committed $57 billion last year on everything from building roads to taking stakes in companies in emerging economies.


CULLED FROM BLOOMBERG AND REUTERS