Press Release No. 07/158

Press Release No. 07/158

International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) Chairman Gordon Brown has tendered his resignation from the chairmanship of the International Monetary Fund's policy advisory committee since assuming his position as the U.K.'s Prime Minister. With Mr. Brown's resignation from the panel chairmanship, which was effective July 8, 2007, the IMFC will begin the process of selecting a new chairman.

"Mr. Brown's tenure as Chairman of the IMFC was particularly rich and productive, spanning 16 ministerial meetings," IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato noted today following discussions with the IMF Executive Board on Mr. Brown's resignation as IMFC chairman. "This was a period characterized by deep transformation of the global economy and of the role being played by the Fund in it. Throughout this period, the Fund, and the international community at large, greatly benefited from the IMFC's advice and guidance."

The Managing Director noted Mr. Brown's important role in supporting the development and implementation of the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy for institutional reform. "It is crucially important that the momentum built under Mr. Brown's leadership be maintained in the coming months," Mr. de Rato said, adding, "Our common objective is to ensure that a new IMFC Chairman is selected expeditiously so that there will be no break in the Committee's important work."

The IMFC, which is comprised of finance ministers and central bank governors, has operated since September 30, 1999 following a resolution of the IMF Board of Governors that transformed the Interim Committee of the Board of Governors on the International Monetary System (usually known simply as the Interim Committee), which had been established in 1974, into the IMFC. The change signified a strengthening of the role of the primary advisory committee of the Board of Governors. As the Interim Committee did, the IMFC usually meets twice a year before the Bank-Fund Annual Meetings in the autumn, and at what are referred to as the Spring Meetings.

The Board of Governors resolution on the IMFC stipulates that its Chair is selected by the Committee to serve for such period as the Committee determines. In line with the practice so far for the selection of the 15 chairmen of the IMFC and its predecessor, the Interim Committee, the process of selecting the Chair involves consultations among IMFC members at the level of IMF Executive Directors and in capitals until a consensus on a new IMFC Chair is reached.