Gita Gopinath to step down as IMF’s first deputy MD in August, return to Harvard

Gita Gopinath had joined the International Monetary Fund in January 2019 as Chief Economist and was promoted to First Deputy Managing Director in January 2022

Gita Gopinath, IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director, would be stepping down at the August-end to return to Harvard University, organisation chief Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement. Gopinath will be the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at the Harvard. Gopinath had joined the International Monetary Fund in January 2019 as Chief Economist and was promoted to First Deputy Managing Director in January 2022.

“Gita has been an outstanding colleague—an exceptional intellectual leader, dedicated to the mission and members of the Fund, and a fabulous manager, always showing genuine care for the professional standing and wellbeing of our staff. She came to the Fund as a highly respected academic in macroeconomics and international finance. Admiration for Gita only grew through her time at the Fund, where her analytical rigor was paired with practical policy advice to the membership during an especially challenging period, which included the pandemic, wars, the cost-of-living crisis, and major shifts in the global trading system,” Georgieva added.

After nearly 7 amazing years at the IMF, I have decided to return to my academic roots. On September 1, 2025, I will rejoin @HarvardEcon as the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics. I am truly grateful for my time at @IMFnews, first as Chief Economist and then…

— Gita Gopinath (@GitaGopinath) July 21, 2025

Lauding Gita’s stint at the IMF, Georgieva further said, “Gita steered the Fund’s analytical and policy work with clarity, striving for the highest standards of rigorous analysis at a complex time of high uncertainty and rapidly changing global economic environment. She oversaw the Fund’s multilateral surveillance and analytical work on fiscal and monetary policy, debt, and international trade. Gita made a strong contribution to systemic country surveillance and to Fund country programs, including those for Argentina and Ukraine. As a key member of my senior leadership team, Gita represented the Fund with integrity and fortitude in many international fora, notably the G-7 and G-20.”

Confirming the departure, Gopinath also issued a statement. For her role at the Fund, Gopinath said, “I am truly grateful for my time at the IMF, first as Chief Economist and then as First Deputy Managing Director. I have had the privilege of working closely with the IMF’s brilliant and committed staff, colleagues in management, the Executive Board, and country authorities. I am especially thankful to Kristalina and her predecessor, Christine Lagarde, for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve the IMF’s membership during a period of unprecedented challenges. I now return to my roots in academia, where I look 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.”