IMF appoints Indian born Gita Gopinath as chief economist

International Monetary Fund (IMF) appointed India-born economist Gita Gopinath as the chief economist on Monday. She is the second Indian to hold the position after former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.

Born and brought up in India, Gopinath completed her BA from the University of Delhi and MA degrees from both the Delhi School of Economics. After that she did her second masters in economics from University of Washington and received her Ph.D in economics from Princeton University in 2001. Soon after that she joined University of Chicago in 2001 as an Assistant Professor and then moved to Harvard in 2005. In 2010, Gopinath became a tenured Professor there in 2010.

At Harvard University, she is the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics. The research area she focuses on includes International Finance and Macroeconomics. Along with it, Gopinath is also the co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Economic Adviser to the Chief Minister of Kerala state (India), co-editor of the American Economic Review, a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, member of the economic advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and co-editor of the current Handbook of International Economics and was managing editor of the Review of Economic Studies.

The eminent scholar received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Washington in 2017 and in 2014 she was named one of the top 25 economists under 45 by the IMF. Also, World Economic Forum chose her as a Young Global Leader in 2011. Gopinath has even served as a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group on G-20 Matters for India’s Ministry of Finance. Now an American citizen, Gopinath is an Overseas Citizen of India.

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