Masood Ahmed

Masood Ahmed has been Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department since November 1, 2008. He obtained his graduate and post-graduate degrees in Economics from the London School of Economics, where he also served on the economics faculty. He was born and brought up in Pakistan.

Before taking up this position, Mr. Ahmed was the Director of the External Relations Department in the IMF since May 1, 2006.

Between 2003-06, Mr. Ahmed served as Director General for Policy and International Development at the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID).

Between 2000-03, Mr. Ahmed was Deputy Director in the IMF's Policy Development and Review Department. In this role, he served as the senior staff focal point for taking forward the IMF's policy work in support of low income member countries and its relationship with the World Bank and other development agencies.

Between 1979 and 2000, Mr. Ahmed held a number of positions in the World Bank. He worked for about 10 years on country programs and projects in different regions and, for a further 10 years, on international economic policy relating to debt, aid effectiveness, trade and global economic prospects. As Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Mr. Ahmed was the senior World Bank manager responsible for the development of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper approach as well as the HIPC Debt Initiative.

He also served concurrently for a year as Acting Vice President for Private Sector Development and Infrastructure.

¹ The Middle East and Central Asia department is responsible for handling the IMF’s relations with the following member countries Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen.