IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva wins second term ahead of Spring meetings

Georgieva, 70, led IMF's efforts to aid indebted countries through pandemic and has warned about the global economic impact of trade fragmentation caused by worsening US-China relations

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By Eric Martin

Kristalina Georgieva won a second five-year term as the head of the International Monetary Fund, allowing her to continue leading the crisis lender as it confronts challenges including lower global growth prospects, climate change and distressed debt in developing nations.
 

The decision came after several discussions between Georgieva, who was the sole candidate for the job, and the IMF executive board, the fund said in a statement Friday afternoon. The board commended Georgieva’s “strong and agile leadership” and said that it looks forward to continuing to work with her.

The announcement was made just before IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington next week, which are expected to draw thousands of delegates, observers and journalists from the fund’s 190 member countries. Now that it’s known Georgieva will stay on as the IMF’s managing director, visitors can focus on economic issues rather than the IMF’s internal workings.

A Bulgarian economist whose current term started in 2019 and runs through the end of September, Georgieva received the backing of European Union finance ministers last month, including France and Germany. 

The leader of the Washington-based fund has always been a European chosen by European nations, a post-World War II understanding with the US, which in turn chooses the president of the World Bank. Georgieva was the World Bank’s chief executive officer before becoming the chief of the IMF.

Georgieva, 70, led the fund’s efforts to aid indebted countries through the pandemic and has more recently warned about the global economic impact of trade fragmentation caused by worsening US-China relations.

She’s also advocated re-balancing the representation of countries at the IMF, where members like China and India have voting shares much smaller than their share of global economic output.