Geeta Gopinath will assume a new role as the first Deputy Managing Director at the IMF.
Highlight
- The IMF’s chief economist is being promoted to first deputy MD, the fund announced Thursday.
- She will replace Geoffrey Okamoto who plans to leave the fund early next year.
- Georgieva said Gopinath’s contribution to the fund’s work has already been extraordinary
Indian-American Gita Gopinath, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is being promoted as the first deputy managing director of the IMF, the fund announced on Thursday.
She will replace Geoffrey Okamoto, who plans to leave the fund early next year. Gopinath, who was due to return to her academic position at Harvard University in January 2022, has served as the IMF’s chief economist for three years.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said, “Geoffrey and Gita are both tremendous partners – I am sad to see Geoffrey leaving, but at the same time, I am glad that Gita has decided to stay on as our FDMD and accept the new responsibility. has done.” ,
Georgieva said Gopinath’s contributions to the fund’s work have already been exceptional, particularly “his intellectual leadership in helping the global economy and the fund navigate the twists and turns of the worst economic crisis of our lives.”
She also said that Gopinath, the first woman chief economist in the history of the IMF, has gained respect and admiration in member countries and institutions with a proven track record in working analytically rigorous on a wide range of issues.
Under Gopinath’s leadership, the IMF’s research division had moved from “strength to strength”, highlighting its contributions to multilateral monitoring, particularly through the World Economic Outlook, countries responding to international capital flows (Integrated Policy Framework). A new analytical approach to help deliver, and IMF Managing Director said Gopinath’s recent work is to set targets to end the COVID-19 crisis to vaccinate the world at the cost possible.
“As the pandemic continues its grip on us, the work of the Fund has never been more important and international cooperation has never been more important.
I am extremely grateful to Kristalina and the board for this opportunity, and therefore look forward to working closely with all the incredibly talented and committed collaborators at the Fund, whom it has been an absolute privilege to work with,” said Gopinath.
Georgieva noted that given the increasingly complex policy choices and difficult trade-offs facing the IMF’s 190 member states – exacerbated by the pandemic – there is some re-evaluation in the roles and responsibilities of the fund’s senior management team.
Specifically, the FDMD will lead monitoring and related policies, oversee research and major publications, and help promote the highest quality standards for IMF publications, she said.
(with inputs from agencies)
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