Posted on Mon, Apr. 28, 2008

President René Préval on Sunday chose an international banking official to be the troubled country's next prime minister, a Haitian lawmaker said.

Préval has designated Ericq Pierre, a senior official with the Inter-American Development Bank, to succeed ousted Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, said Stephen Benoit, a member of Préval's Lespwa party in the lower house of Parliament.

Haiti's Radio Metropole also reported that Préval had chosen Pierre.

''It's very good that the president picked a new prime minister,'' Benoit said. ``I don't have a problem with his choice.''

Opposition lawmakers and U.S. Embassy officials could not be reached for comment.

The Haitian Parliament must approve the nomination to the country's No. 2 political post. It was not known when lawmakers would take up the matter.

Alexis was ousted following riots over food prices and shortages earlier this month that left seven people dead. Haitian lawmakers fired the prime minister for failing to boost food production.

The lower house, then comprising different lawmakers, rejected Pierre in 1997, when Préval selected him as premier-designate following the resignation of Prime Minister Rosny Smarth.