Managing Director (MD) of IMF, Kristalina Georgieva informed on October 19, 2021, that the search for the successor replacing Gopinath would begin soon.
Gita Gopinath, IMF (International Monetary Fund) chief economist, will leave her job at the Fund and will be returning to Harvard University in January 2022. Gopinath joined the IMF as its chief economist in January 2019. When she joined the global lender based in Washington, she was serving Harvard University as the John Zwaanstra Professor for International Studies and Economies.
Managing Director (MD) of IMF, Kristalina Georgieva informed on October 19, 2021, that the search for the successor replacing Gopinath would begin soon. She said Gopinath’s role and contribution to the Fund as well as their membership was undeniably remarkable. She added that her impact on the Fund’s work was “tremendous”.
Born on December 8, 1971, Gopinath has made history as the first female Chief Economist of IMF. Harvard University had extended her leave of absence by one year which enabled her to serve the Fund as its chief economist for about 3 years.
Georgieva shared that the Fund had benefitted exceedingly from Gopinath’s high-level intellect and her being resourceful in the field of international finance and macroeconomics as the establishment navigated through the worst economic crisis since the “Great Depression”.
She added on Gopinath’s role in the Fund that the latter won the respect and admiration of the company’s colleagues in the Research Department as well as through the entire membership for leading policy-relevant projects and schemes with her high influence and impact.
The IMF revealed that as part of many important projects, Gopinath also participated in co-authoring the “Pandemic Paper” on how the Covid-19 can be put to an end which set globally endorsed targets for vaccinating people from around the world. This initiative led to the creation of the Multilateral Task Force, made up under the leadership of IMF, the World Bank, the WTO (World Trade Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization) with the view of helping to end the Covid-19 outbreak and setting up a working group including vaccine manufacturers in order to identify the possible trade barriers, supply bottlenecks, etc.
Acknowledging Gopinath’s various contributions in the Fund, Georgieva further gave her personal appreciation to the former for her undeniably impressive role, wise counsel, her diligence and dedication towards achieving the mission of the Fund’s Research Department, and her inclusive as well as openness approach to colleagues and other staff of the establishment.
Belonging to a Malayali family, Gopinath has a strong academic stance. She received a B.A. degree from prestigious Lady Shri Ram College for Women of the Delhi University in 1992 and completed her M.A. degree in economics from Delhi School of Economics of the Delhi University. She also completed an M.A. degree in 1996 at the University of Washington. Furthermore, she got a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 2001.
(Source: Financial Express)
