Gita Gopinath took over as the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the first week of 2019. IMF is the international body responsible for ensuring the financial stability of developing countries.
Prior to stepping into the role, the Indian-born Gita Gopinath was a tenured economics professor at Harvard and a leading scholar in exchange rates, sovereign debt and capital flows. After the announcement of Maurice Obstfeld's retirement in December 2018 Gita Gopinath has been appointed as the chief economist of the IMF.
Gopinath is the second Indian to take over the role of chief economist after Raghuram Rajan, who was the governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2013 to 2016. Rajan was named the IMF chief economist in 2003.
In addition to being the IMF Economic Counsellor, Gopinath will be director of the body research department - becoming the first woman to do so.