Michalis Sarris has been appointed to the post of Finance Minister, to replace Makis Keravnos who resigned to take up a senior post at the Hellenic Bank.

An official statement said that ''President of the Republic Tassos Papadopolos, acting in accordance with the authority vested in him by the Constitution, appointed Mihalakis Sarris to the post of Finance Minister.''

Sarris gave before President Papadopoulos the appropriate pledge, prior to assuming office.

Mr Sarris, who also becomes Governor of the EIB for Cyprus, was born in Nicosia on 14/4/1946. He received his B.Sc. in Economics at the London School of Economics, specializing in monetary theory and policy. He continued his studies in the United States at Wayne State University where he obtained his Doctorate in Economics.

In 1972 he joined the research department of the Central Bank of Cyprus. His work focused on policy analysis and overall economic conditions on the island to guide the management of the monetary sector. In early 1974, he moved to the Bank of Cyprus where he was responsible for setting up the Bank's capacity for evaluating the economic and financial viability of its large lending operations.

From 1975, Michalis Sarris worked at the World Bank where he was promoted to the post of Director. In the course of his career he worked on Africa, Latin America and East Asia. His duties included overseeing the preparation of the Bank's country lending and policy advice strategies, the design of investment and structural adjustment operations, and the conduct of policy dialogue at the highest level.

In addition to these structural issues, his work at the Bank included analysis and advice on appropriateness of the stance of monetary policy, fiscal reforms, and the management of the exchange rate regime.

He retired from the World Bank at the end of 2004 and served in the Board of Directors of Laiki Group. In addition to Greek and English, he is fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese.