World bank’s Zoellick to step down

World Bank president Robert Zoellick will leave the job at the end of his five-year term on Jun. 30, the Bank announced Wednesday.

No mention was made of his successor, traditionally nominated by the United States; speculation has focused on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Treasury secretary Larry Summers.

Under Zoellick the Bank “played an historic role during the global economic crisis, using record replenishments to provide more than $247 billion to help developing countries boost growth and overcome poverty,” the Bank said in a statement.

“I’m very pleased that when the world needed the Bank to step up, our shareholders responded with expanded resources and support for key reforms that made us quicker, more effective and more open,” Zoellick said in the statement.

“The Bank is now strong, healthy and well positioned for new challenges, and so it is a natural time for me to move on and support new leadership.”