In a surprise move, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Monday announced that he will step down from his position on February 1 much before the end of his term in 2022.

Kim, 58, has been in this position for over six years now.

The president of the Washington-based World Bank has always been an American citizen nominated by the United States, which is the largest shareholder of this multilateral financial institution.

"It has been a great honour to serve as President of this remarkable institution, full of passionate individuals dedicated to the mission of ending extreme poverty in our lifetime," Kim said.

Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist who last year became CEO of the World Bank’s lending groups, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA), will serve as interim president.

"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, Kim was quoted as saying in a World Bank press release.

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