News Brief No. 99/56

News Brief: Chile's Aninat Named IMF Deputy Managing Director

September 13, 1999

Michel Camdessus, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), today announced the appointment of Eduardo Aninat, currently the Finance Minister of Chile, as Deputy Managing Director of the IMF to a five-year term, starting in December 1999. Mr. Aninat will succeed Alassane D. Ouattara, who left the IMF at the end of his appointment July 31, 1999, to pursue his political career.

"I have been impressed for many years with Dr. Aninat's grasp of the issues affecting the international economy, as well as with his energy and clarity of purpose in discharging his key responsibilities as the Minister of Finance of one of the most successful economies in the world", said Mr. Camdessus. "His first-hand knowledge of the challenges of policy-making, particularly in a period of international financial volatility which has also affected Chile, will be an invaluable asset for the IMF in its role as economic policy advisor to its member Governments. I know he views the opportunities his new position presents with great enthusiasm. I also know of his deep commitment to his country and his ongoing responsibilities in the design and approval of the Chilean budget legislation for the year 2000, which will require him to take his new post only in December of this year", he added.

Mr. Aninat has an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, has taught Public Finance and Economic Development at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (from which he has a B.A. in economics) and was an Assistant Professor of economics at Boston University. He has been the Finance Minister of Chile since March 1994. He was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IMF and World Bank in 1995-96, and served three years as a member of the Development Committee of the World Bank and the IMF, representing the constituency of six countries: Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay. In that capacity, he has been involved in the discussions on initiatives ranging from international policies for highly-indebted poor countries to the proposals for the reform of international financial architecture.

Prior to that, he served in a range of economic positions in the Chilean Government that included chief negotiator for the bilateral Canada-Chile trade agreement, and chief debt negotiator and senior advisor of the Central Bank of Chile and the Ministry of Finance. From 1981 to 1994, he was a principal in Aninat, Méndez y Asociados, one the largest economic consultancies in Latin America. He has been a consultant for international institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and has advised a number of governments on matters ranging from tax policy to debt restructuring. In 1989 he was the Latin American Coordinator for Harvard University's International Tax Program. Mr. Aninat has been a member of the Boards of Directors of several private companies and institutions in Chile and abroad. He is currently a member of the Board of Fundación Andes, the largest non-profit foundation dedicated to providing grants for educational and artistic purposes in Chile.

Mr. Aninat is married to Maria Teresa Sahli, and has six children.