IMF chief Koehler resigns

Horst Koehler, managing director of International Monetary Fund, has announced his resignation after being nominated to become the German President.

"I am very honoured to be nominated for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Germany, and I have accepted the nomination," Koehler said in a statement to the executive board and staff of the IMF on Thursday.

Effective immediately, the managing director will excuse himself from official IMF business. First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger will be the acting managing director until the IMF's executive board names a successor to Koehler.

"I accepted the nomination with a 'laughing and a crying eye'... In conformity with the rules of the Fund, I will resign as managing director of the Fund effective at the end of business today," he said.

Koehler said he will maintain an active interest in the role of the Fund in helping to build a better world.

Before joining the IMF in May 2000, Koehler, 61, was President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a post to which he was appointed in September 1998.

He was President of the German Savings Bank Association from 1993 to 1998. From 1990 to 1993, he served as Germany's Deputy Minister of Finance, and was responsible for international financial and monetary relations.

Koehler is all set to succeed German President Johannees Rau on July 1 as three opposition parties, which have majority in the special assembly empowered to select the President, agreed to support him. The President has largely a ceremonial role in Germany.