Gita Gopinath facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gita Gopinath
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Gopinath in 2025
|
|
| First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund | |
| Assumed office 21 January 2022 |
|
| President | Kristalina Georgieva |
| Preceded by | Geoffrey Okamoto |
| Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund | |
| In office 1 January 2019 – 21 January 2022 |
|
| President | Kristalina Georgieva |
| Preceded by | Maurice Obstfeld |
| Succeeded by | Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 December 1971 Kolkata, India |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal |
| Relations | A. K. Gopalan Nambiar |
| Children | 1 |
| Education |
|
| Awards | Pravasi Bharatiya Samman |
| Academic career | |
| Institution |
|
| Doctoral advisor |
|
Gita Gopinath (born 8 December 1971) is a well-known economist from India and America. She holds a very important job as the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She started this role on January 21, 2022.
Before this, she was the chief economist for the IMF from 2019 to 2022. She also spent about 20 years working as a professor. She taught at Harvard University and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She helps lead a program about international money and economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She even gave economic advice to the chief minister of Kerala in India.
In 2018, Christine Lagarde, who was in charge of the IMF, chose Gita Gopinath to be the chief economist. She once talked about the worldwide economic problems in 2020, calling it "the Great Lockdown." In 2021, Kristalina Georgieva, the current head of the IMF, promoted her to the second-highest position in the organization.
Early Life and Education
Gita Gopinath was born on December 8, 1971, in Kolkata, India. Her family is from Kannur, Kerala. She is the younger of two daughters. Her family is also related to a famous person named A. K. Gopalan.
She went to Nirmala Convent School in Mysore. She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts, from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in Delhi in 1992. Then, she got a Master of Arts degree in economics from Delhi School of Economics in 1994. She continued her studies and received another Master of Arts degree from the University of Washington in 1996.
Gita Gopinath completed her highest degree, a Ph.D. in economics, from Princeton University in 2001. Her research focused on how money moves between countries. While studying at Princeton, she received a special award called the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Research Award.
Her Important Career Steps
In 2001, Gita Gopinath started working as a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2005, she moved to Harvard University. There, she became a special professor focusing on international studies and economics. She stayed at Harvard until 2022. While at Harvard, she wrote important papers about how taxes affect international trade.
In October 2018, she became the chief economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). One of her big projects was helping to write the "Pandemic Paper." This paper was an international plan to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. It set goals for getting people vaccinated around the world.
Her work led to the creation of a special team called the Multilateral Task Force. This team included leaders from the IMF, World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), and World Trade Organization (WTO). Their goal was to help stop the pandemic. They also worked with companies that make vaccines to solve problems and deliver COVID-19 vaccines to countries that needed them most.
In December 2021, Gita Gopinath was promoted to the First Deputy Managing Director (FDMD) of the IMF. This is the second-highest position in the organization. The head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, said that Gita Gopinath's skills and experience were exactly what the IMF needed during that time.
As the First Deputy Managing Director, Gita Gopinath represents the IMF at big international meetings. She talks with leaders from different countries and with the media. She also helps guide the IMF's research and important publications. She helps oversee the work of many senior staff members.
Awards and Recognitions
Gita Gopinath has received many honors for her work. In 2014, the International Monetary Fund named her one of the top 25 economists under 45 years old. The World Economic Forum chose her as a "Young Global Leader" in 2011.
In 2018, she was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. She also became a member of the Econometric Society. Foreign Policy magazine called her one of the "Top Global Thinkers" in 2019. That same year, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, gave her the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. This award is for people of Indian origin who have achieved great things abroad.
In 2021, the Financial Times named her one of the "25 most influential women of the year." The Carnegie Corporation also named her among "Great (American) Immigrants." She was included in Bloomberg's "50 people who defined 2019" and Time magazine's "Women who Broke Major Barriers to Become Firsts."
Personal Life
Gita Gopinath is an American citizen. She also holds an Overseas Citizenship of India, which means she has special rights in India. She is married to Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal. They met when they were students at the Delhi School of Economics. They have one son, who was born in 2002.
