NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, April 4, 2014

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim stopped by The Washington Post on Thursday to chat about some of the changes under way as the bank moves to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.

Throughout discussions about energy projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, deficits in Indonesia and private sector growth in Burma, one key concern kept coming up: What role should the World Bank play when conflicts arise in member nations?

Kim has been an outspoken critic of institutional discrimination and its impact on the economies of developing countries, especially in light of the recent spate of anti-gay laws around the world (check out his recent op-ed in The Post). But the World Bank is in the business of apolitical development — meaning its loans and grants aren’t supposed to come with a political agenda.

Check out what the leader of the global lender has to say on this and more. (We’ll have more from Kim next week in a sit-down video interview on the structural changes he is making within the World Bank.)