Gita Gopinath bids farewell to IMF as she returns to academia

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, has announced that Gita Gopinath, the current First Deputy Managing Director (FDMD), will be leaving the organisation at the end of August.

After more than four years at the IMF, where she served as chief economist before her promotion to FDMD in January 2022, Gopinath is set to return to her academic roots as the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

Georgieva said Gopinath has been an outstanding colleague—an exceptional intellectual leader, dedicated to the mission and members of the Fund, and a fabulous manager, always showing genuine care for the professional standing and wellbeing of the IMF staff.

"She came to the Fund as a highly respected academic in macroeconomics and international finance," Georgieva said.

"Admiration for Gita only grew through her time at the Fund, where her analytical rigor was paired with practical policy advice to the membership during an especially challenging period, which included the pandemic, wars, the cost-of-living crisis, and major shifts in the global trading system."

During her tenure, Gopinath was instrumental in steering the IMF's analytical and policy work, focusing on fiscal and monetary policy, debt management, and international trade during a time marked by uncertainty and complexity.

Georgieva noted that Gopinath played a vital role in advising on critical country programs, particularly in Argentina and Ukraine, representing the Fund with integrity in influential international groups like the G7 and G20.

Gopinath, who made history as the first female chief economist of the IMF, was commended for her dual ability to engage in rigorous analytical work while maintaining collaboration with her colleagues and staff.

Under her stewardship, the World Economic Outlook remained the preeminent report on the global economy—an especially impressive achievement during the Covid-19 pandemic which presented an unprecedented challenge to our membership.

Gopinath also spearheaded the Fund’s work on the Integrated Policy Framework (IPF), which provides a robust analytical framework to help countries determine the appropriate policies for macroeconomic and financial stability.

She also co-authored the Pandemic Plan on how to end the COVID19 crisis—a landmark intellectual contribution which has widely been hailed as filling an important global gap by setting targets to vaccinate the world at feasible cost

As Gopinath prepares to return to academia, she expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to serve at the IMF during such a tumultuous period.

"I am truly grateful for my time at the IMF, first as Chief Economist and then as First Deputy Managing Director. I have had the privilege of working closely with the IMF’s brilliant and committed staff, colleagues in management, the Executive Board, and country authorities," she said.

"I am especially thankful to Kristalina and her predecessor, Christine Lagarde, for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve the IMF’s membership during a period of unprecedented challenges. I now return to my roots in academia, where I look forward to continuing to push the research frontier in international finance and macroeconomics to address global challenges, and to training the next generation of economists."

The IMF said a successor to Gopinath will be named in due course by Georgieva.

BUSINESS REPORT