IMF director for Midast, Central Asia to resign

Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will retire after the fund's annual meeting in October, the IMF said on Friday.

Ahmed, a Pakistani national, notified IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde of his intention to retire from the Fund following the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in the fall, the IMF said in a statement.

Lagarde praised Ahmed as "a visionary leader of the department for the past eight years."

"I have highly valued his wise counsel, political acumen, and great strategic sense," the statement quoted Lagarde as saying. "His departure is a loss for the Fund, and he will be deeply missed by friends and colleagues alike."

Ahmed "also forged strong and effective collaborations with other organizations, including the World Bank, the Arab Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, and the United Nations," Lagarde said.

The search process to identify a successor to Ahmed will begin right away, the IMF said. Endit