WASHINGTON, May 27: International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday named a new chief economist and three others to top directors position.

Strauss-Kahn said he was appointing fellow Frenchman Olivier Blanchard, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as the IMF economic counsellor and director of the research department.

The managing director also name Antoinette Sayeh as director of the African Department, Andrew Tweedie as director of the Finance Department, and Reza Moghadam as director of the Policy Development and Review Department (PDR).

“These appointments bring to the Fund a unique combination of world-class knowledge and experience, and will help us greatly in our ongoing efforts to refocus the Fund for the 21st century,” Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.

Blanchard has held numerous policy and academic advisory positions worldwide and is an expert in international macroeconomics.—AFP