Belgium's Praet to be ECB's chief economist German born, the 62-year-old has worked previously at the International Monetary Fund and Fortis Bank and as the Belgian Minister of Finance's Chief of Staff before joining the ECB's Executive Board. He replaces Juergen Stark who quit the board reportedly because he was unhappy about the bank's bond buying programme. Praet will oversee the ECB economists who prepare the projections on which interest rate decisions for the eurozone are made.