Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, has accepted the resignation of central bank chief Viktor Gerashchenko, clearing the way for a successor nominated by President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Gerashchenko resigned last Friday under pressure from Mr Putin, who has asked the Duma to replace him with First Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Ignatiev.

The Duma, where Mr Putin holds a firm majority, voted 276 to 60 to accept the resignatio and unanimously accepted Mr Ignatiev's nomination.

Anne Krueger, the IMF's first deputy managing director, who is in Moscow for a two-day conference, is expected to meet with Mr Ignatiev for talks.

Mr Ignatiev has pledged to keep the central bank's currency policy unchanged but pursue a more vigorous restructuring of the banking sector.

Economic proposals

Mr Putin's sacking of Mr Gerashchenko came after he opposed economic policies which the government hopes will boost long-term growth.

He left his post just hours after he tried to block government-proposed central bank reforms in parliament that reduced its autonomy.

The government proposals, drafted by Mr Ignatiev, included steps to boost lending by Russia's 1,300 banks to businesses.

There was little restructuring of the banking sector under Mr Gerashchenko.

Russia's economy grew nearly 20% over the past three years, but much of the growth was linked to high world prices for oil, a major Russian export.