Press Release No. 01/17

Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia of India has accepted the offer of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Executive Board and will become the first Director of the Fund's independent Evaluation Office (EVO), effective August 2001.

Mr. Ahluwalia is a Member of the Indian Planning Commission, and of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He was Finance Secretary at the Ministry of Finance of India between 1993 and 1998, and has held a range of senior policy positions within the Indian government. Mr. Ahluwalia, a prominent economist who has written and spoken extensively on national and international economic issues, has worked at the World Bank.

The IMF's Executive Board decided to offer Mr. Ahluwalia the position of EVO Director on April 13, 2001 (see Press Release No. 01/13). The Executive Board had agreed on April 10, 2000 that an independent EVO would be established (see Press Release No. 00/27). It was also agreed that the Director of EVO would report regularly to the Executive Board on the findings of the unit.

Documents related to the establishment of EVO are available on the IMF's web site (http://www.imf.org/external/np/eval/index.htm).