Kristalina Georgieva is the New IMF Director

• Kristalina Georgieva is the New IMF Director

Following the resignation of Christine Lagarde as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, the fund has formally selected Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria as the new Managing Director.

Kristalina Georgieva, 66, is a Bulgarian economist and has served as the Chief Executive of World Bank since 2017.

She also served as Vice-President of the European Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker from 2014 to 2016.

Speaking on her new role as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Georgieva said: “It is a huge responsibility to be at the helm of the IMF at a time when global economic growth continues to disappoint, trade tensions persist, and debt is at historically high levels.”

“This means also dealing with issues like inequalities, climate risks and rapid technological change.”

Christine Lagarde is now expected to succeed Mario Draghi as the new European Central Bank president by the end of this year.

In July, the former Managing Director, IMF, was nominated to succeed President Mario Draghi at ECB.

In her acceptance speech, Lagarde said: “I am honored to have been nominated for the Presidency of the European Central Bank.”

“In light of this, and in consultation with the Ethics Committee of the IMF Executive Board, I have decided to temporarily relinquish my responsibilities as Managing Director of the IMF during the nomination period,” Lagarde said in a statement released on Tuesday, July 2, 2019.