The IMF renews Kristalina Georgieva as managing director for a second time period | Economy | EUROtoday

There was no room for shock. Kristalina Georgieva's candidacy was the one one which had been offered, so the choice was made by consensus. This Friday, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) elected the 70-year-old Bulgarian as managing director of the IMF for a second five-year time period beginning on October 1, 2024, as introduced by the group in an announcement.

“I am deeply grateful for the trust and support of the Fund's Executive Board, which represents our 190 member countries, and I am honored to continue leading the IMF as Managing Director for a second five-year term,” Georgieva stated in an announcement launched by the group shortly after the announcement of his reelection, which happens simply earlier than the Fund's spring conferences that might be held subsequent week in Washington. The new time period extends till Georgieva is 76 years previous. Until her election in 2019, the age restrict to carry workplace was 65 years.

“In recent years, the IMF has helped our member countries weather successive shocks, including the pandemic, war and conflict, and a cost-of-living crisis. We have also intensified our work on climate change, fragility and conflict, and the digital transition, in line with their increasing importance for macroeconomic and financial stability, growth and employment,” added Georgieva.

The coordinators of the Executive Committee, Afonso S. Bevilaqua and Abdullah F. BinZarah, have highlighted that in renewing Georgieva the Board praised her “firm and agile leadership” throughout her mandate, navigating a collection of main world disruptions. Georgieva led the IMF's unprecedented response to those disruptions, together with approving greater than $360 billion in new financing for the reason that begin of the pandemic for 97 nations, debt service aid for the poorest members and susceptible from the Fund and a historic allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) equal to 650,000 million {dollars},” they said in a statement.

In the note, they have highlighted that in its first mandate, the Fund introduced innovative financing mechanisms, such as the Mechanism for Resilience and Sustainability and the Window for Food Shocks. He also replenished the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust Fund, with the capacity to mobilize concessional loans for its poorest members, and co-created the Global Roundtable on Sovereign Debt. In addition, it achieved a 50% increase in the quota to reinforce the Fund's permanent resources and agreed to add a third sub-Saharan president to the Board of Directors.

Bulgarian Georgieva has held the position of managing director since October 1, 2019. Traditionally, European countries nominate the Fund's chief executive, while the United States appoints the head of the World Bank. In 2019, after Christine Lagarde resigned from the IMF to become president of the European Central Bank (ECB), several candidates entered the race to succeed her. Among them was the then Spanish Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, who withdrew her candidacy due to the lack of sufficient support. The IMF modified the age requirement for the position to allow the election of Georgieva, who beat the Dutchman Jeroen Dijesselbloem in the final vote among European candidates.

This time, his path has been much clearer from the beginning. The Finance Ministers of Germany and France, Christina Lindner and Bruno Le Maire, had already shown their support. Also the Spanish Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, supported Georgieva when it became known that she had presented her candidacy. Through X, Corpus stated that the Bulgarian's intention to renew constituted “excellent news for the fund.” “She is the most suitable for the position,” said the head of Economy.

The Managing Director is the head of the IMF's operational staff and chairwoman of the Executive Board. She has four deputy managing directors who support her in managing the operation of the Fund, which has about 3,100 employees.

Before assuming her current role, Georgieva was CEO of the World Bank since January 2017. From February 1, 2019 to April 8, 2019, she was Acting President of the World Bank Group. Previously, she worked at the European Commission as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and as Vice-President for Budget and Human Resources. Georgieva has a doctorate in Economic Sciences and a master's degree in Political Economy and Sociology from the Bulgarian University of National and World Economy, where she also taught from 1977 to 1991.

Follow all the information Economy y Business in Facebook y Xor in our e-newsletter semanal