LONDON- The Bank of England said on Tuesday that its chief economist, Andy Haldane, will leave the central bank later this year to become chief executive of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Haldane - who has struck the most upbeat tone among BoE policymakers about Britain's prospects for a rapid recovery from the COVID pandemic - will step down from the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee after its June meeting and start his role at the RSA in September.

The BoE said it would advertise for a new chief economist in due course.

The RSA is a London-based organisation which seeks solutions to social challenges.

Haldane said he shared the RSA's sense of challenges from technology to longevity, from inequality to the environment.

"Meeting these new challenges will require new thinking, new policies and new partnerships between governments, industries and civil society, working in partnership," he said in a statement issued by the RSA.

(Reporting by David Milliken Editing by William Schomberg) ((william.schomberg@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 7778; Reuters Messaging: william.schomberg.reuters.com@reuters.net))