Gita Gopinath to step down at IMF, return to Harvard

Gita Gopinath, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will step down at the end of August to resume teaching at Harvard University.

The IMF confirmed her departure on Monday, saying managing director Kristalina Georgieva will name a successor “in due course.”

Gopinath, who became the IMF’s chief economist in 2019, was the first woman to hold the post.

She was promoted to first deputy managing director in 2022, becoming the institution’s second-highest official.

An Indian-born US citizen, she had been on leave from her professorship at Harvard to serve at the IMF.

The IMF said Gopinath is leaving more than a year before her term ends to return to academia.

“International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced today that Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director (FDMD), would be leaving the Fund at the end of August to return to Harvard University,” the IMF said.

Harvard University confirmed the development through its gazette, stating: “Gopinath returns as the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics, with a new slate of course offerings available next spring.”

Gopinath’s departure opens the door for the US Treasury Department to propose a replacement.

While the IMF managing director is typically chosen by European nations, the US has historically influenced the appointment of the deputy role.

The Treasury has not yet commented on a possible successor.

During her tenure, Gopinath led the Fund’s economic response to major global crises, including the covid-19 pandemic and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

She oversaw research and policy guidance on fiscal policy, debt sustainability, monetary policy, and international trade.

“Gita steered the Fund’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 events.”

She added that Gopinath joined the IMF as a highly respected academic and proved to be an “exceptional intellectual leader,” Georgieva said.

Gopinath called her IMF role a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

In her statement, she thanked both Georgieva and former IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde for their support.

“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 said.