News

Gita Gopinath Resigns as IMF First Deputy Managing Director to Return to Harvard.

International | Dated: 22 Jul 2025

Gita Gopinath, the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced her resignation effective end-August 2025, citing a commitment to return to Harvard University. This move ends her six-plus years at the IMF, including nearly four years in leadership roles on global macroeconomics.

🎯 Key Highlights:

- Appointed in January 2022, Gopinath became the IMF’s first female First Deputy Managing Director, succeeding Geoffrey Okamoto. She had previously served as the Chief Economist of the Fund from January 2019 to January 2022, and initially joined the IMF following her distinguished academic career at Harvard University.
- Gopinath first entered the IMF in 2019 as its first woman Chief Economist, a role she held during critical global crises including the COVID‑19 pandemic and the Russia‑Ukraine war. She officially assumed her current deputy mandate on 21 January 2022, working directly under Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
- During her tenure, Gopinath led pivotal analytical and policy efforts such as the “Pandemic Paper,” coordinated multilateral financial surveillance, and shaped IMF strategies on fiscal policy, monetary frameworks, international debt, and global trade.

💡 Other Important Facts:

(i) The IMF confirmed she will step down at the end of August 2025, marking the conclusion of over six years with the institution. Her departure paves the way for a successor—traditionally a United States nominee, as it holds the IMF’s largest shareholding—and is expected during a period of renewed US scrutiny over the Fund’s climate and gender agendas.
(ii) In her statement, Gita Gopinath expressed enthusiasm about returning to her academic roots, stating she looks 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” at Harvard.
(iii) Her departure elicited widespread attention from the global financial community. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praised Gopinath as an “exceptional intellectual leader,” while US Treasury’s proposed Lompetition signals ongoing debate around the organization’s core mission.

📚 Test Your Knowledge:

Who recently resigned from the post of First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?

Correct Answer: Gita Gopinath

🚀 Quick Recap:

About International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Managing Director: Kristalina Georgieva
Headquarter : Washington, D.C., (USA)