Li Daokui was on Monday appointed director general and chief economist at New Development Bank (NDB), according to an NDB statement.

As bank's first chief economist, Li will play a leading role in the bank's overall operations in research and analysis of economic, financial, infrastructure and development issues across member countries, the statement said.

Li, a leading Chinese economist in academic and policy research, has been a Mansfield Freeman chair professor of economics at Tsinghua University since 2006.

His research covers economic development, international economics, comparative economics, and the Chinese economy, and he has worked on economic issues in BRICS countries, according to the NDB statement.