Shoo-in World Bank chief unopposed

WASHINGTON: The way is now clear for a second term for the American president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim. After a first term hailed by some Bank member states but marked by internal discord, Kim this month became the only candidate running for his own succession.

In keeping with an unbroken tradition, the US nominee will again fill the presidency at the World Bank, while the International Monetary Fund remains in European hands as Christine Lagarde, also unopposed, began a second term as managing director in July.

After nominations opened, no other country took the risk of trying to upset this established order -- unlike in 2012, when the Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala threw her hat in the ring to be leader of the development behemoth, which comprises 189 member states and employs 15,000 people.

Still, Kim´s record since taking office that year is not spotless. A medical doctor and former president of Dartmouth College, Kim won plaudits for mobilizing the Bank against the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa and taking action against climate change, as well as for setting a goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 all while expanding World Bank lending.

But he also had to contend with a high degree of internal dissent, stemming from an unpopular reorganization and a controversy in 2014 over bonuses granted to senior Bank officials.