Press Release No. 02/1

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Horst Köhler, today announced the appointment of Mr. Abdoulaye Bio Tchane as Director of the Fund's African Department. Mr. Bio Tchane, a national of Benin, will succeed Mr. G.E. Gondwe, a national of Malawi, who will retire in February after heading the African Department for three years.

Mr. Bio Tchane currently holds the position of Minister of Finance and Economy in Benin. Mr. Bio Tchane, holds masters degrees, in economics from the University of Dijon and in banking from Centre ouest-africain de formation et d'études bancaires in Dakar and began his career as an economist in the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) where he rose to become Director of the Economic and Monetary Survey Department, a post he held until being appointed Minister of Finance in 1998. In the early 1990s, Mr. Bio Tchane spent two years in the Fund's African Department, on secondment from the BCEAO.

"I am delighted to welcome Mr. Bio Tchane as Head of the African Department," Mr. Köhler stated. "His distinguished career in the BCEAO and as Benin's Finance Minister makes him an outstanding choice to lead the IMF's African Department and to build on the important achievements of his predecessor G. E. Gondwe."