Press Release No. <a name="P16_75"></a>04/61

Anne Krueger, Acting Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has notified the IMF Executive Board of her intention to appoint Rob Edwards to the position of Director of the IMF's Statistics Department. Mr. Edwards will join the Statistics Department as Associate Director on July 1, 2004 and later in the year succeed its current Director, Carol Carson, who will retire from the Fund.

In making the announcement, Ms. Krueger said:

"The Statistics Department contributes to the IMF's technical assistance and capacity-building efforts in its member countries. With this in mind, IMF Management has sought a director who has an international reputation in the field of statistics, a forward-looking approach to strengthening statistics systems, an ability to manage large projects, and strong communications skills. Rob Edwards meets all these requirements. He succeeds Carol Carson, who has been an outstanding department head."

Mr. Edwards, 54, an Australian national who is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, joined in 1969 the Australian Bureau of Statistics, where since 2000 he has been Deputy Australian Statistician, Economic Statistics Group.

Mrs. Carson became Director of the Statistics Department in 1996 (see Press Release No. 96/60).