Indian-American Gita Gopinath discussed the World economic Outlook for one last time before Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas succeeds her as IMF’s chief economist.
“Today was my last World Economic Outlook release. Happy to hand the baton to @pogourinchas and wish him the best,” Ms Gopinath tweeted. The current IMF chief economist discussed the new strain Omicron, supply disruptions, high inflation, policy pivots, among other things.
“We have a downgrade for global growth this year, there are numerous challenges facing the global economy. We still remain in the grip of the pandemic.
Inflation is too high in many countries. There are supply disruptions in many places. But at the same time, the global recovery is continuing and let’s hope that we can make 2022 truly the year we exit the pandemic; that’ll require a lot more global cooperation,” she said in a video message on Twitter.
“I’m here in my new office which I take over as first deputy managing director and I hope to continue doing my bit to help the world get to a much more durable recovery,” Ms Gopinath concluded.
Gita Gopinath, the first woman to serve as the IMF’s chief economist, took over from Geoffrey Okamoto as the institution’s first deputy managing director on January 21.
Ms Gopinath has served as the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, Chief Economist for three years.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, praised Ms Gopinath’s contribution to the IMF as exceptional, especially her “intellectual leadership in helping the global economy and the Fund to navigate the twists and turns of the worst economic crisis of our lives.”
Ms Gopinath has earned respect and admiration across member countries and the institution with a proven track record in leading analytically rigorous work on a broad range of issues, the IMD Managing Director said.