Washington: Anoop Singh, who once served as special advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he was the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been named a director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Currently director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, Singh will take over as director of Asia Pacific Department as part of the 185-member lending organisation's "refocusing effort", managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn announced Thursday.

"There are a number of appointments that are in train at the director-level as part of the Fund's ongoing refocusing effort. It is my intention to fill these senior positions as quickly as possible," he said.

"Given the skills needed by the Fund and its membership, some of positions can be filled internally. Today, I am announcing my initial actions in this regard."

Besides working with Manmohan Singh, Anoop Singh has also served as special advisor to another RBI governor, I.G. Patel. He has also worked as senior economic advisor to the vice president, Asia region, the World Bank; and sometime lecturer in economics in Bombay University.

During his career at the Fund, his appointments have included: director of special operations in the office of the managing director, deputy director of the Asia and Pacific Department, senior advisor of the Policy Development and Review Department, assistant director of the European Department, and IMF resident representative in Sri Lanka.

With graduate and postgraduate degrees from the universities of Bombay, Cambridge, and the London School of Economics (LSE), Anoop Singh has worked and written on macroeconomic, surveillance, and crisis management issues, helping design Fund-supported programs in emerging market, transition, and developing countries in South and South-East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

He led missions to Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia during the Asian crises in 1997-99, to Vietnam, Bulgaria, and Albania during their early transition experiences in the late 1980s-early 1990s, to the Philippines, India, Australia, China, Japan, and Argentina, and now directs the work of the Western Hemisphere department.

Among publications, Anoop Singh has co-authored or co-edited "Sustaining Latin America's Resurgence: Some Historical Perspectives" (2006), "Stabilization and Reform in Latin America: A Macroeconomic Perspective on the Experience Since the 1990s" (2005), "Australia, Benefiting from Economic Reform" (1998), "Macroeconomic Issues Facing Asean Countries," (1997), and "Monetary Policy in India: Issues and Evidence" (1982).

He has organized several conferences and seminars on political and economic issues affecting the ASEAN countries, "Asia and the IMF", the Andean region, Central America, Indonesia, and Argentina, IMF said.

Strauss-Kahn also announced his intention to appoint Masood Ahmed, a Pakistani national, who is currently director of the External Relations Department, as director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department.