(FILE)

Lin Jianhai was named the secretary of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by its managing director Christine Lagarde on March 7.

The appointment will take effect on March 22 and Lin will be the first Chinese to lead the Secretary's Department of the Washington D.C.-based global institution.

This is the second time the IMF chose a Chinese economist as its senior official. In July 2011, Zhu Min was named deputy managing director of the organization.

"Lin has had a wide-ranging Fund career in both country and policy work. This breadth of experience has been of particular benefit to the IMF, where Lin's skill in building consensus among staff, management and our global membership has been essential for the productive work of the executive board during one of the most challenging periods in the Fund's history," said Lagarde.

Lin was born in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, in 1955 and studied at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and the University of California, Berkeley. He holds a doctorate in international finance from George Washington University. Lin has been acting director of the Secretary's Department since November 2011. Before coming to the IMF in 1989, he worked in the financial sector and academia.