Geeta Gopinath 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.
Indian-American Gita Gopinath, the 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 Geeta are both great partners, I am sad to see Geoffrey leave, but at the same time, I am glad that Geeta 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 gone from strength to strength, notably highlighting its contribution to multilateral monitoring through the World Economic Outlook, helping countries respond to international capital flows (Integrated Policy Framework). A new analytical approach to help, and Gopinath’s recent work on a pandemic plan to end the COVID-19 crisis by setting targets for immunization at a viable cost to the world, said IMF Managing Director Doing.
“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 very grateful to Kristalina and the Board for this opportunity, and so to all, I look forward to collaborating closely with 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, the pandemic has led to some changes 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.