Gita Gopinath Joins IMF as First Woman Chief Economist
The first woman chief economist, Gita Gopinath, also becomes the 11th chief economist of the IMF.
Indian born Gita Gopinath has joined International Monetary Fund as its Chief Economist and thereby becoming the first woman to take over the senior most position in the international organisation. Gita Gopinath has joined IMF at a time, when the world is experiencing a retreat from globalization, which is posing various challenges to the multilateral institutions.
The Professor of International Studies and Economics at the Harvard University, 47-year-old Gita Gopinath has succeeded Maurice Obstfeld as the Economic Counselor and Director of the IMF’s Research Department. Maurice Obstfeld has retired on December 31 last year.
While announcing her appointment on 1st October 2018, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has described Gita Gopinath as “one of the world’s outstanding economists with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership and extensive international experience”.
As she takes over the charge, Gita Gopinath also becomes the 11th chief economist of the IMF. In a recent interview to The Harvard Gazette, Gopinath described her appointment at the IMF as a "tremendous honour" for her.
Her appointment as the first ever woman for this position also speaks highly of IMF’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “She is phenomenal, not just in her leadership of the IMF but as a role model for women around the world”, Gopinath said.
About her top priorities at the IMF, Gita Gopinath during her interview to The Harvard Gazette said she would like the IMF to continue to be a place that provides intellectual leadership on important policy questions. “Among the research issues that I would like to push, one would be understanding the role of dominant currencies like the dollar in international trade and finance. We could do more on the empirical side to try to understand countries'' dollar exposures and on the theoretical side in terms of the implications for international spillovers, consequences of dollar shortages, etc” Gopinath said.
Gopinath considers the perceived retreat from globalization as one of the top challenges being faced by the IMF. She says, “The one (biggest issues being faced by the IMF) that is absolutely clear and present is that we are seeing the first serious retreat from globalization. This has not happened in the past 50 or 60 years, when the world moved toward lower tariffs and increasing trade across countries”.
Most countries of the world trade in dollars and borrow transaction internationally in dollars. And therefore this is the central part of the international pricing and financial system and Gopinath looks forward to explore its consequences in greater depth with the IMF.