IMF deputy managing director Zhu Min to leave IMF

Zhu Min, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), intended to leave the IMF when his five-year term expires in late July, said the IMF on Tuesday.

Zhu was the first Chinese to hold the position as one of IMF's deputy managing director. At IMF, he focused on jobs and growth issues, as well as activities concerning fragile states, small states and low-income countries.

"His down-to-earth style, wonderful sense of humor, and warm personality served to reinforce his formidable intellect and passion for economics, and enabled him to provide strong leadership across a large range of issues," Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Zhu also helped the IMF's work on statistics, standards and codes, as well strengthening its Financial Sector Assessment Program and efforts to combat money laundering and the financing terrorism.

The IMF is now seeking a candidate to succeed Zhu, and will have further announcements "in due course," said the IMF.

Zhu joined IMF in 2010 as special advisor to the managing director, and then was appointed as the deputy managing director with a five-year term in July 2011.

Prior to joining the IMF, Zhu served as deputy governor of the People's Bank of China. Endit