London, Apr 17 (IANS): Market-based growth is a priority for every country, World Bank's new president Jim Yong Kim has said.

Kim told BBC that capitalist "market-based growth is a priority for every single country".

He described it as the best way to create jobs and pull people out of poverty.

Kim, a Korean-American public health expert and Dartmouth University president, will succeed outgoing president Robert Zoellick whose term expires at the end of June.

Kim was favoured over Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was supported
by South Africa and other developing countries.

A third candidate, former Colombian Minister of Finance Jose Antonio Ocampo, pulled out of the race Friday.

Kim said his background as a physician would help him in his new role.

"I am a physician. Physicians work on evidence, rather than working from a single ideology, rather than working from a particular political point-of-view," Kim was quoted as saying.

He said that he would consider the cultural and social peculiarities of various regions to ensure that the Bank's schemes achieved the desired results.