Press Release No. 06/124

Press Release: IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato to Visit Australia and New Zealand

June 9, 2006

Mr. Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will travel to Australia and New Zealand between June 13-16, 2006. He will be discussing and reviewing issues of global and regional economic significance in preparation for the Annual Meeting of the IMF's Board of Governors and the International Monetary and Financial Committee in Singapore this September. It will be the first visit by an IMF Managing Director to Australia since 1998 and to New Zealand since 1988.

In Canberra on June 13-14, Mr. de Rato will meet with the authorities to review the outcome of the recent Spring Meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and to discuss the status of the implementation of the IMF's Medium-Term Strategy, which the committee endorsed at its April meeting. The Managing Director will also speak before the National Press Club about global economic issues and about the role of Asia in the global economy and in the implementation of the IMF's Medium-Term Strategy. He is also scheduled to meet with parliamentarians, academics, financial sector leaders, and other experts, to discuss the current state of the IMF and its role in the global and regional economy.

Following his visit to Australia, Mr. de Rato will visit Wellington, New Zealand, on June 15-16 for a similar series of meetings with the authorities about current global and regional economic issues. The Managing Director will also address a working breakfast hosted by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.