Who became the first woman to serve as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?

Gita Gopinath, an Indian-American economist, became the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in January 2019. She was the first woman to hold this position. As Chief Economist, she was also the Economic Counsellor and Director of the IMF's Research Department, which prepares the "World Economic Outlook" report.

About Gita Gopinath:

• She was born in Kolkata in 1971 and grew up in Mysuru, Karnataka.
• She studied economics at Lady Shri Ram College and the Delhi School of Economics, then at the University of Washington, and earned her PhD from Princeton University.
• She became a professor of economics at Harvard University, where she was only the third woman to receive tenure in the economics department.
• She served as an economic adviser to the Chief Minister of Kerala.
• In January 2022, she was promoted to First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, the second-highest position in the organisation.
• Before Gita Gopinath, another Indian, Raghuram Rajan, served as Chief Economist of the IMF (2003-2006); he later became Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2013-2016).

About the IMF:

• It was set up at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, along with the World Bank, and began work in 1945.
• Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C., USA.
• It has 191 member countries.
• Its main roles are to promote global monetary cooperation and financial stability, and to lend money to countries facing balance of payments problems.
• It publishes the "World Economic Outlook" and the "Global Financial Stability Report".
• Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria has been the Managing Director of the IMF since 2019.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kristalina Georgieva is the Managing Director of the IMF.
• ✗Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg was the first woman Chief Economist of the World Bank (2018).
• ✗Indermit Gill became the World Bank's Chief Economist in 2022.