Fund confirms Blanchard appointment

Blanchard's appointment is a major coup for the Fund, whose position as the leading organisation in the international financial system has been questioned by some.

Filling the chief economist position, once regarded as one of the top jobs in international finance, has proved problematic for the Fund in recent months. Raghuram Rajan (September 2003 until January 2007) served with great distinction, as did his predecessor, Kenneth Rogoff.

When Ragan stepped down to return to his position as a professor at the business school of the University of Chicago, the Fund recruited widely for a replacement, with insiders suggesting that a number of preferred candidates declined the offer.

The search ended with the appointment of Simon Johnson, whose area of expertise lay outside the international financial system and more in area such as corporate governance, innovation and productivity, and long-run economic development.

Blanchard, however, enjoys a higher profile as a macroeconomist of note. His research has focused on areas of great relevance: global imbalances, oil price fluctuations, theoretical monetary economics and inflation targeting.

Blanchard is expected to take up his new position on 1 September.