The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday selected Kristalina Georgieva to serve as IMF Managing Director and Chair of the Executive Board for a five-year term starting on October 1, 2019.
Georgieva, who succeeds Christine Lagarde, is the first person from an emerging market economy to lead the IMF since its inception in 1944.
In a statement after her selection, she said, “I am deeply honored to have been selected as managing director of the IMF and grateful for the trust that the Fund’s global membership and the Executive Board have placed in me. I want to pay tribute to my predecessor, Christine Lagarde, a great leader and a dear friend, whose vision and tireless work have contributed so much to the continued success of the Fund”.
The managing director is the chief of the IMF’s operating staff and Chair of the Executive Board. The managing director is assisted by four Deputy Managing Directors in the operation of the Fund, which serves its membership through about 2,700 staff.
Georgieva, a national of Bulgaria, has been the Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank since January 2017. From February 1, 2019 to April 8, 2019, she was the Interim President for the World Bank Group. Starting in 2010, she was at the European Commission, serving as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, then as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources. Georgieva has a Ph.D. in Economic Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria, where she also taught from 1977 to 1991.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
