IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath to Step Down from her Post in January 2022

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 20 October 2021

The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) chief economist, Gita Gopinath, will step down in January 2022, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF managing director. When her public service leave of absence from Harvard University ends, the 49-year-old distinguished Indian-American economist will return to the university as planned, according to the Fund.

Gopinath was the International Monetary Fund's first female chief economist. She joined the fund in October 2018 and is now leading new IMF analytical research on the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination targets, and climate change mitigation.

She has also served as the Economic Adviser to Kerala's Chief Minister and is a co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research's International Finance and Macroeconomics programme. She dubbed the global recession of 2020 "The Great Lockdown" in an interview with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show.

While announcing Gopinath's departure, the IMF managing director praised her "tremendous" impact on the organization's work. In a statement, Georgieva stated, “Gita’s contribution to the Fund and our membership has been truly remarkable – quite simply, her impact on the IMF’s work has been tremendous.”

Gopinath was instrumental in the development of a $50 billion proposal to terminate the Covid-19 epidemic by vaccinating at least 40% of the world's population by the end of 2021 and at least 60% by the first part of 2022. Her proposal was well received, and the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and the World Health Organization later endorsed it.

“Gita also won the respect and admiration of colleagues in the Research Department, across the Fund, and throughout the membership for leading analytically rigorous work and policy-relevant projects with high impact and influence,” she further added.