Gita Gopinath to take over as First Deputy Managing Director at IMF from next year

Chief Economist Gita Gopinath is all set to take over as the International Monetary Fund's First Deputy Managing Director next year. As a part of the recent announcement by the fund, she will be succeeding Geoffrey Okamoto as the FDMD serving under IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

In an official press release by IMF, it has been announced that Gopinath's appointment came after an early departure of Okamoto. Meanwhile, Gopinath had been scheduled to return to her academic position and at Harvard University in January 2022 but now has decided to stay and accept the new position. 

Taking to Twitter, the IMF chief also announced about the same and welcomed Gita Gopinath to join the leadership team of the fund early next year. "I look forward to Gita Gopinath, one of the world’s leading macroeconomists, joining the leadership team as our FDMD early next year. I will continue to count on her wise counsel at a time when the pandemic has increased the economic challenges our members face.", she added.

Gopinath herself also took to Twitter and expressed her honour to become the fund's next FDMD. She wrote, "I am honoured to become the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director. With the pandemic, the work of the Fund has never been more important. I look forward to working with my brilliant colleagues to help our membership face these important challenges."

Notably, she will be starting her new role from January 21, 2022, onwards.

Who is Gita Gopinath IMF?

Presently serving as the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinath is an Indian-born technocrat and is also a professor of economics at Harvard University. 

Throughout her career, Gopinath has been designated to various relevant positions including as an advisory member to the US Federal Reserve Bank, co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics programme of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and also as an economic advisor to the Kerala Chief Minister.

Earlier in October 2018, she was appointed as a chief economist of IMF and is now ready to take over as the First Deputy Managing Director. 

Image: AP