Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas: New IMF Chief Economist

January 11, 2022

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) have appointed Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas as the new Chief Economist.

Key Points

He succeeds Gita Gopinath as its chief economist.
Gourinchas is presently the director of Clausen Center for International Business & Policy, at the University of California.
He will start his new position on January 24, 2022 part time.
He will be transitioning to full time on April 1, 2022.

Background

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas is a French national. He was program director of international finance & macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research. From 2009 to 2016, He was an IMF visiting scholar as well as editor-in-chief of the IMF Economic Review.

Former Chief economist of IMF

Gita Gopinath was the former chief economist of IMF. She was also the first woman to hold this position. It was announced in December 2020 that, she will now take over as the institution’s first deputy managing director on January 21, 2022 from Geoffrey Okamoto.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

IMF is an international financial institution. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The institution comprises of 190 countries. It is working to foster global monetary cooperation, facilitate international trade, secure financial stability, promote sustainable economic growth, promote high employment and reduce poverty worldwide. It was created in 1944 but started working formally on December 27, 1945. It came into existence with 29 member countries.

MD and Chairwoman of IMF

Presently, Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva is the managing director (MD) and Chairwoman of the IMF.

Why was IMF created?

The IMF was originally created as a part of the Bretton Woods system in 1944. During the Great Depression, countries raised the barriers to trade in order to improve their failing economies. This resulted into devaluation of national currencies and decline in world trade. Breakdown in international monetary cooperation created a need for oversight. Thus, representatives of 45 governments met at the Bretton Woods Conference, in the United States, to discuss a framework for an international economic cooperation and to rebuild Europe.

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