IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard retires

The chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced his retirement on Thursday, leaving for a Washington-based nonprofit think tank to further his research career.

Olivier Blanchard, who assumed the post of economic counsellor and director of the Research Department at the IMF in 2008, has helped the Fund navigate through the choppy waters of the financial crisis, and further enhanced the reputation of the Fund by leading his department to work on its flagship publication, the World Economic Outlook, the IMF said in a statement.