A leading US economist has called on International Monetary Fund head, Mr Michel Camdessus, to resign over the institute's poor handling of the Russian economic crisis, saying the IMF's actions had contributed to the chaos.

Mr Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, said Mr Camdessus should step down from his post as IMF executive director.

"The IMF completely failed in its intervention in Russia from the start," Mr Sachs claimed. "They have contributed to this debacle."