Gita Gopinath to Take Over from Okamoto as IMF No. 2

The International Monetary Fund announced on Thursday that the institution’s Chief Economist Gita Gopinath is set to take over from Geoffrey Okamoto as the No. 2 official, the First Deputy Managing Director in the institution.

The decision is surprising because Gopinath – who is the first woman to serve as the IMF’s Chief Economist – had said in October this year that she had plans to rejoin Harvard University in January 2022 in order to retain her tenured facility post after three years of serving publicly.

In a statement, the IMF stated that there was some realignment going on in the roles of some members of the senior management team of the fund.

Traditionally, the first deputy managing director is nominated by the United States and finally appointed by the IMF’s managing director. A person close to the department’s position and asked not to be identified said that the treasury supports this choice and is actually happy that the job responsibilities of the role are being restored.

The IMF said that the first deputy managing director will take point on policies related to surveillance, oversee research and flagship publications, and then help foster the highest quality standards for fund publications.

Gopinath had previously led the IMF’s research department through the era of the pandemic, as well as a 2020 recession which was the worst decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s. She joined the lender – which is based in Washington – in 2019, replacing Maury Obstfeld, after teaching in Harvard’s economics department since as far back as 2005.

Gopinath holds a doctorate in economics from Princeton University, where she was advised by Ben Barnanke before he went on to become the Federal Reserve Chairman. Another of her advisors was Ken Rogoff, who is one of her predecessors as IMF Chief Economist.

Okamoto initially took the first deputy MD position in March 2020, after serving as the United States Treasury Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for International Finance and Development.