The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that Gita Gopinath, the first deputy managing director, will step down at the end of August to return to Harvard University.
She will assume the role of the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics in Harvard’s Department of Economics.
Confirming her departure in an official statement on Monday, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF managing director, recognised Gopinath outstanding contribution to the fund.
“Gita has been 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.
“She came to the Fund as a highly respected academic in macroeconomics and international finance. Admiration for Gita only grew through her time at the Fund, where her analytical rigour 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.”
She also highlighted Gopinath’s strive for the highest standards of rigorous analysis while steering the fund’s analytical and policy work, especially at a time of high uncertainty and a changing global economic environment.
Gita Gopinath expressed her appreciation to the fund for the opportunity to serve during a period of uncertainty and global economic challenge, while looking forward to returning to her roots in academia.
Gita Gopinath, who first arrived at Harvard University as a visiting professor in 2005, left Harvard to join the fund in 2019 and was named the first female chief economist, and was later promoted to the fund’s first managing director in 2022.
