Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas: New IMF Chief Economist

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.