Anoop Singh, Director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who was in Sri Lanka early this month, has notified IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde of his intention to retire from the Fund in coming months. Singh joined the Fund’s Economist Program in 1973 and has served in numerous positions with increasing responsibility, including as Director of the Western Hemisphere Department and as the Fund’s Resident Representative in Sri Lanka. He also served in a number of positions outside the Fund during secondments, including as Special Advisor to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Recently, he also taught courses at Georgetown University. Mr. Singh holds degrees from the universities of Bombay and Cambridge, and the London School of Economics. “Anoop’s departure will deprive the Fund of one its most distinguished staff members, and his friends of a hugely admired colleague,” Lagarde said. “Over the course of his career, he has made major academic and policy contributions on macroeconomic, surveillance, and crisis management issues, in the process helping to design key Fund-supported programs in emerging market, transition, and developing countries in South and South-East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. “When he took over the reins in the Asia Pacific Department in 2008, he returned to the department where he had played a critical role during the Asian crisis of the late 1990s. Anoop charted a very successful path of engagement with our members in the region at a time when the world economy became engulfed in crisis. We thank him for his outstanding contribution to the Fund and the international community,” Lagarde said. Singh delivered the keynote address at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit and also called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa and officials.