Finland names head of transition unit

Iikka Korhonen, a research superviser, has been appointed head of the Bank of Finland's Economies in Transition Research Institute.

Korhonen will take on the role from the beginning of October 2009. The position is for five years.

He succeeds Pekka Sutela, who became head adviser to the central bank's board at the beginning of this month.

The unit specialises in research into transition economies, with a particular emphasis on monitoring and analysing current developments in the Russian and Chinese economies and undertaking long-term academic research. The research undertaken concentrates mainly on macroeconomic and financial-market issues in transition economies.