India-born Gita Gopinath to Become First Deputy MD of IMF

Gita, a US national and overseas Indian citizen was appointed to her current position in October 2018. She was due to join Harvard this month.

FREMONT, CA: Instead of returning to her academic position in the prestigious Harvard University, Inda-born Gita Gopinath, the chief economist at IMF, will soon take over as the first deputy managing director of the organization. Gita will succeed Geoffrey Okamoto and serve under IMP chief z. It is the first time that two women have held the top leadership positions at the IMF.

In the announcement made by IMF, Kristalina Georgieva said that Gita is the right person at the right time. She also shared how delighted she is that Gita has decided to stay and accept the new responsibility of being the FDMD. Gita is a world-renowned macroeconomist whose role as the new FDMD will help the IMF address the rising macroeconomic challenges its members face. Addressing the announcement, Gita said that she had had the opportunity to experience first-hand and be a part of a critical division of IMF at the intersection of rigorous economic analysis and public policies. As the pandemic continues to impact the economic stature of numerous nations, IMF’s work has never been more important.

Gita was born in India and completed her Ph.D. in economics at Princeton University in 2001, after finishing her MA from Delhi School of Economics and University of Washington, and BA from Lady Shri Ram College. Her international finance and macroeconomics research has been published in several economic journals, and she has authored numerous articles on trade, investment, exchange rates, and market crises. Gita is also the co-editor of the Handbook of International Economics. The Government of India has Gita with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians. She was the economic adviser to the CM of Kerala from 2016-2018 and also served as a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group on G-20 Matters for India’s Ministry of Finance.

In 2021, Gita Gopinath was named by Financial Times as one of the 25 most influential women of the year. She was also named top global thinker by Foreign Policy in 2019, top 25 economists under 45 by IMF in 2014. Gita was also chosen as a young global leader by WEF in 2011.