Press Release No. 02/47

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Köhler has appointed David Burton as Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department (APD) to succeed Yusuke Horiguchi, who is retiring after 25 years with the Fund. Mr. Burton's appointment is effective October 1, 2002.

Mr. Burton, a U.K. national, has 21 years of experience in the IMF, including in APD and the Policy Development and Review Department, and as Advisor to the First Deputy Managing Director. He is currently Deputy Director in the Middle Eastern Department. He studied at London School of Economics and University of Manchester and holds a doctorate in economics from University of Western Ontario.

Mr. Köhler, in notifying the IMF Executive Board of his intention to appoint a new Director for the Asia and Pacific Department, noted that "in David Burton we have what we need for APD. In the six years that he spent in APD, he worked among other countries on India, China and the Philippines. In late 1997, he was closely involved with the Korean debt restructuring operation and in the spring of 1998 he became co-mission chief of our missions to Indonesia."

Mr. Horiguchi, a Japanese national, became Associate Director of the Asia and Pacific Department in 1998 prior to his appointment as the Department's Director in February 2000.