Press Release No. 14/14

Statement by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on the IMF’s Resident Representative in Afghanistan

January 17, 2014

Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), made the following statement today on the death of Mr. Wabel Abdallah, the IMF’s Resident Representative in Afghanistan:

“We have just learned that our dear colleague and friend Wabel Abdallah, our Resident Representative in Afghanistan, was killed in an attack at a restaurant in Kabul in which many people were killed. This is tragic news, and we at the Fund are all devastated.

“Our hearts go out to Wabel’s family and friends, as well as the other victims of this attack.”

Mr. Wabel Abdallah, 60, a Lebanese national, was appointed Resident Representative in June 2008. He joined the Fund from the Central Bank of Lebanon in 1993, and has held various IMF positions, especially on the IMF’s activities and operations in the Middle East.