Controversial World Bank President David Malpass will step down from his post on June 30.

The president of the World Bank (WB), David Malpass, informed the organization’s Board of Executive Directors on Wednesday. his intention to leave office by June 30: “This afternoon I met with the World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors and informed them of my intention to leave around June 30 of this fiscal year. It has been an honor and privilege to serve as president of the World Bank,” Malpass wrote on his Twitter account.

In a statement from the WB, Malpass himself explains that he wants to. “pursue new challenges”. Proposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump (2017-2021), he held the position since April 2019.

“It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve as president of the world’s leading development institution alongside so many talented and exceptional people,” Malpass notes in the statement posted on the bank’s website.

The last four years, he notes, “have been some of the most significant of my career.”In that time, “I’ve made a lot of progress,” he says. “After much thought, I decided to pursue new challenges,” adds the American economist (Michigan, 1956).

A figure in question

Malpass will step down on June 30 and hopes for a “smooth leadership transition” as the World Bank works “to address growing global challenges and to facilitate private investment.”

Malpass’s figure came under fire after last September at a panel discussion he repeatedly avoided answering whether he recognized the scientific consensus that humans burning fossil fuels were “warming the planet rapidly and dangerously.”

“I don’t even know, I’m not a scientist and that’s not a question.”he said at a meeting held by The New York Times at Climate Week in New York, a response that led some climate activists to call for his resignation.

Malpass later acknowledged that his words were unfortunate and that when asked if he was a climate change denier he should have clearly said ‘no’.