Gita Gopinath To Step Down From IMF, Calls Tenure As Once In Lifetime Opportunity

Indian-American economist Gita Gopinath who is serving as the first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is rejoining Harvard University as an economics professor. "After nearly 7 amazing years at the IMF, I have decided to return to my academic roots," Gopinath, the first female chief economist in IMF history, said in a post on X.

Gopinath will rejoin the Harvard Economics Department on September 1 as the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics. She felt  "truly grateful" for her time at IMF, where she was first chief economist and then served as first deputy managing director, describing her time there as a 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," she posted on X.

Gopinath joined the IMF in January 2019 as chief economist, serving as the first female to hold the post in the IMF and was promoted to the post of first deputy managing director in January 2022. Prior to joining the IMF, Gopinath was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University’s economics department (2005-22) and before that she was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business (2001-05).

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva described Gopinath as 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 our staff.” 

Georgieva also said Gopinath came to the IMF as a highly respected academic in macroeconomics and international finance and admiration for her only grew through her time at the IMF, 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.” Georgieva added that Gopinath steered the IMF’s analytical and policy work with clarity, striving for the highest standards of rigorous analysis at a complex time of high uncertainty and rapidly changing global economic environment, reported PTI.

Gopinath oversaw the IMF’s multilateral surveillance and analytical work on fiscal and monetary policy, debt, and international trade. As a key member of the IMF senior leadership team, she represented the organisation in many international fora, notably the G-7 and G-20.

'As Chief Economist, Gita ensured that 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,” Georgieva said.

Gopinath also co-authored the 'Pandemic Plan' on how to end the COVID-19 crisis, a contribution which has widely been hailed as filling an important global gap by setting targets to vaccinate the world at feasible cost, Georgieva said.

Goipnath’s successor will be appointed in due course by Managing Director Kristalina Georgiva, the IMF commented.