Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, abruptly announced that he will be leaving his post on February 1st, more than three years ahead of the end of his term.

“It has been a great honor to serve as President of this remarkable institution, full of passionate individuals dedicated to the mission of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime,” Mr Kim said in a statement on Monday.

“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 added.

Mr Kim has been at the helm of the World Bank since 2012, and was re-elected for a second five-year term that began in 2017. Kristalina Georgieva, the chief executive of the World Bank, will be interim president starting on February 1, while Mr Kim said he would join a firm that focuses on infrastructure investments in developing economies.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019