Washington sources reported that Mysore born Gita Gopinath's joined last week at a time, when she believes the world is experiencing a retreat from globalization, posing challenges to multilateral institutions. Meanwhile the John Zwaanstra professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University, Gopinath, 47, succeeds Maurice (Maury) Obstfeld as Economic Counselor and Director of the IMF's Research Department.
Furthermore announcing her appointment on October 1, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde described her as “one of the world's outstanding economists with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership and extensive international experience.” Reportedly the 11th chief economist of the IMF, Gopinath in a recent interview described her appointment at the IMF as a “tremendous honor” and said the appointment of the first ever woman for this position speaks highly of IMF's Managing Director Lagarde.
Moreover she said “We could do more on the empirical side to try to understand countries' dollar exposures and on the theoretical side in terms of the implications for international spillovers, consequences of dollar shortages, etc”.
