The interim government plans to appoint Ahsan H Mansur, an eminent economist, as the governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB), said people familiar with the development.   

The development comes after Abdur Rouf Talukder resigned as BB governor on August 9 citing health reasons -- four days after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country in the face of an uprising.

Mansur, a former economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will be the 13th governor of the central bank of Bangladesh.

He will take the leadership role of the BB at a time when Bangladesh's economy is facing the toughest challenges -- spiralling inflation, falling foreign exchange reserves and high default loans, weak corporate governance and unrest in the banking sector.