IMF official to retire from fund

AMMAN — Masood Ahmed, the director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is going to retire from the fund, following the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in October 2016, according to an IMF statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

“Masood has been a visionary leader of the department for the past eight years. I have highly valued his wise counsel, political acumen, and great strategic sense. His departure is a loss for the fund, and he will be deeply missed by friends and colleagues alike,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.

Ahmed has been in his current position since 2008, where he oversaw the IMF’s relations with the Middle East at a time of political transition and intensified turmoil in the wake of the conflict in Syria.