The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday cheered the White House choice of Janet Yellen to lead the Federal Reserve as positive for removing uncertainty hanging over the U.S. central bank.
President Barack Obama was to formally announce later Wednesday Yellen's nomination to succeed Ben Bernanke as chair of the Fed, after months of leaving markets in the dark over who would take charge of U.S. monetary policy when Bernanke departs at the end of January.
"It's good news that the US administration is moving towards dissipating the uncertainty that still existed about who's going to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve," said Jose Vinals, director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department.
He described Yellen, currently the vice chair of the Fed and a widely respected economist, as someone of "tremendous good sense."
"Both on her academic credentials and her policy experience, I cannot think of anybody who is better prepared than Janet Yellen to lead the Fed," he said during an IMF press conference.