 "Jim Yong Kim")
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim comes here on Monday for a three-day visit. He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, among others.
It will be his first visit to India after the new government took office. "The historic mandate from the people of India represents a tremendous opportunity to unlock India's growth potential and take advantage of its immense demographic dividend. I look forward to meeting Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Jaitley to understand their development priorities, and determine how the financial and knowledge resources of the World Bank Group can be best allocated to support them," said Kim.
The visit comes after countries under the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping announced the creation of a New Development Bank, as their answer to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Besides the delay in their quota reforms, India has been especially concerned with the decreasing financial resources of the World Bank. In such a scenario, it is felt, the Bank will not be in a position to support its poverty elimination programmes.
Jim is also expected to visit World Bank-supported project sites in Tamil Nadu. Its assistance to India between July 2013 and June 2014 amounted to $6.4 billion.
