camdessus to resign

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

 Press Release No. 99/52 
 November 9, 1999

International Monetary Fund

700 19th Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20431 USA



                        IMF's Managing Director Announces Plans To Resign

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Michel Camdessus
announced today his plan to resign in early 2000
after an unprecedented 13 years as the Managing Director and Chairman of
the Executive Board of the 182-member
institution. His letter to the Executive Board is attached.

Mr. Camdessus, who was appointed to his initial five-year term as Managing
Director on January 16, 1987, intends to
resign by mid-February 2000, after the IMF's Executive Board names a
successor.

Mr. Camdessus is now serving in his third five-year term which began on
January 16, 1997. His current biography is
available on the IMF's Internet site
http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/mc.htm.


ATTACHMENT

My dear colleagues, 
Members of the Executive Board:

The moment has come for me to ask you to discharge me of my
responsibilities as Managing Director, preferably before the
middle of February, by which time I will already be in my 14th year of
service in the IMF.

Personal reasons, of which I did not even want to hear, particularly as
long as we were in the midst of the Asian crisis, lead
me to this decisiona decision I would never have thought would be so hard
to take. But when you reappointed me for a
third term, an immense honor indeed, I did not interpret it as an
expression of your wish to see me serve for 15 years; that
would be inappropriate in a world in permanent need of renewal of its
institutions. You were generous in leaving to my
judgement the choice of the right moment to pass the baton.

This is, I think, the right time.

We have advanced in many fields: we have just established a demanding but
exciting work program, and the World
Economic Outlook allows us to anticipate favorable trends for the world
economy. So I see it as my duty now to suggest that
you take advantage of these favorable circumstances to select my
replacement, and to use these few months to help my
successor become familiar with this superb but complex institution.

My friends, this is the right time. It is hard for me to tell you this. I
do so with an enormous sense of gratitude to each of
you, and to all in the Fund, for 13 years of support, understanding and
warm friendship. The time I have spent here has
been the most rewarding in my long career of public service. I leave with
absolute confidence in yourselves, in my
management colleagues and in the staff of the Fund. I am certain that you
will continue to fulfill, under a new Managing
Director and with the highest professionalism, integrity, efficiency and
continuous success, the purposes of the Fund.

Thank you all.

Washington DC 
Tuesday, November 9, 1999




Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob@essential.org