IMF economist Peter Doyle ‘ashamed’ of the fund

A senior economist at the International Monetary Fund said he was “ashamed” to have worked for the organization, citing the “incompetence,” “failings” and “disastrous” appointments for managing director in the past decade, CNN reported today.

In a blistering resignation letter sent to the IMF executive board, Peter Doyle said the Washington-based lender's failure to issue “timely” and “sustained” warnings to European leaders ahead of the debt crisis had caused suffering for many, including Greece, and left the euro “on the brink.”

"The fund for the past two years has been playing catch-up and reactive roles in the last ditch efforts to save it," he wrote in the letter dated June 18.

Doyle, a former adviser to the IMF’s European Department, which is running the bailout programs for debt-stricken Greece, Portugal and Ireland, said the current managing director, Christine Lagarde, was “tainted” as “neither her gender, integrity or elan can make up for the fundamental illegitimacy of the selection process,” UPI reported.

The BBC noted that there has been widespread criticism over the selection process for the head of the IMF, which has always chosen European.

After 20 years at the IMF, Doyle said he was “ashamed to have had any association with the fund at all."

Doyle signed off the letter saying there were “good salty people here… but this one is moving on. You might want to take care not to lose others.”

More from GlobalPost: IMF global growth forecast: Europe's debt crisis is hurting emerging markets