Press Release No. 98/61

Press Release: IMF Announces New Senior Staff Appointments

December 8, 1998

Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has appointed G. E. Gondwe as Director of the IMF’s African Department, Ernesto Hernández-Catá as Associate Director of the African Department, and Yusuke Horiguchi as Associate Director of the Asia and Pacific Department. All three appointments are effective December 9, 1998.

Mr. Gondwe, a national of Malawi, received his degree in Economics at Makerere College of the University of London. He held various positions at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, becoming General Manager in 1969. Between 1970 and 1972 he served as Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and from 1972-73 was Secretary to the Treasury. He became an Executive Director at the African Development Bank in 1973, was appointed Vice President of the Bank in 1976, and its Acting President in 1979. Mr. Gondwe joined the IMF in 1980 as an Advisor (Assistant Director) in the Administration Department, became a Senior Advisor in the same Department in 1983, and was appointed Deputy Director of the African Department in 1984. Mr. Gondwe succeeds Evangelos A. Calamitsis, who retired on November 30, 1998.

Mr. Hernández-Catá, a national of the United States, received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1974 from Yale University. In 1971, he joined the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department, where he held various positions until 1987, except for 1976-79, when he served in the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Re-appointed in the IMF’s Research Department as Advisor in 1987, he became Deputy Director of the Research Department in 1991, Deputy Director of the European II Department in 1992, Deputy Director of the Western Hemisphere Department in 1994, and Deputy Director of the African Department in 1997.

Mr. Horiguchi, a national of Japan, received his Ph.D. in Economics from Rice University in 1971. After working at the OECD, he joined the IMF in 1978 and held various positions in the African, European, and Western Hemisphere Departments prior to his appointment as Senior Advisor in the Central Asian Department in 1991. He became Deputy Director of the European II Department in 1994, and Deputy Director of the European I Department in 1997. As Associate Director, Mr. Horiguchi will join Mr. Hubert Neiss, Director of the Asia and Pacific Department.