Gita Gopinath, the First Deputy Managing Director (FDMD) of the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF), will likely be stepping down from her function in August 2025 to return to academia at Harvard College, the IMF introduced.
Gopinath, a trailblazer in worldwide economics, will likely be taking up the function of the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics at Harvard.
The IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva confirmed Gopinath’s departure and mentioned a successor will likely be named “sooner or later.”
Gopinath first joined the IMF in 2019 as Chief Economist, changing into the primary girl to carry the place. Her management throughout a time of extraordinary international financial upheaval, together with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing macroeconomic disruptions, was broadly recognised.
In January 2022, she was promoted to First Deputy Managing Director, the Fund’s No. 2 place.
In a publish on X, Gopinath mirrored on her almost seven-year tenure on the Fund and expressed gratitude for the chance to serve at one of many world’s foremost monetary establishments.
“After almost 7 superb years on the IMF, I’ve determined to return to my tutorial roots. On September 1, 2025, I’ll rejoin @HarvardEcon because the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics. I’m really grateful for my time at @IMFnews, first as Chief Economist after which as First Deputy Managing Director,” she wrote.
“I’ve had the privilege of working intently with the IMF’s good and dedicated employees, colleagues in administration, the Govt Board, and nation authorities. I’m particularly grateful to @KGeorgieva and her predecessor, @Lagarde, for the once-in-a-lifetime alternative to serve the IMF’s membership throughout a interval of unprecedented challenges. I now return to my roots in academia, the place I stay up for persevering with to push the analysis frontier in worldwide finance and macroeconomics to handle international challenges, and to coaching the subsequent technology of economists.”
Earlier than becoming a member of the IMF, she served because the John Zwaanstra Professor of Worldwide Research and Economics at Harvard College.
Underneath her management, the IMF performed a key function in shaping the worldwide financial response to crises, together with COVID-19, provide chain shocks, debt misery in growing international locations, and local weather finance challenges.
Her successor on the IMF is but to be introduced.

