Press Release No. 98/46

Press Release: Interim Committee Selects Italy’s Ciampi as New Chairman

October 2, 1998

The members of the International Monetary Fund’s Interim Committee have selected Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Italy’s Minister of Treasury, Budget and Economic Programming, as Chairman of the Committee. Mr. Ciampi succeeds Philippe Maystadt of Belgium, who resigned in June 1998.

Mr. Ciampi has been Minister of Treasury since May 1996. He was Governor of the Bank of Italy from 1979 to 1993. In 1993 and 1994, Mr. Ciampi was President of the Italian Council of Ministers and in 1994 through 1996 served as Vice President of the Bank for International Settlements.

The Interim Committee was established in October 1974 to advise the IMF’s Board of Governors on supervising the management and adaptation of the international monetary system as well as dealing with sudden disturbances that might threaten the stability of the system. The Committee deliberates on the principal policy issues facing the IMF.

The Committee has, at present, 24 members who are Governors of the IMF, Ministers, or others of comparable rank, and reflects the composition of the IMF Executive Board: each member country that appoints, and each group of countries that elects, an Executive Director, appoints a member of the Committee. The Committee usually meets twice a year; in the Spring, and ahead of the Annual Meetings in the Fall. Its next meeting is in Washington, D.C. on October 4, 1998.