Gita Gopinath: Sparkling Promise

When Covid-19 struck, Gita Gopinath was quick to co-author a paper on vaccinating the world. The paper encouraged the World Bank, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization and the IMF to create a working group with vaccine manufacturers to pin down trade barriers and supply bottlenecks, and fast-track vaccine delivery to low- and lower-middle-income countries. In her three-year stint as the first woman Chief Economist of the IMF, Gopinath has left an indelible mark on the coveted institution and on the world economy. Hers is an inspirational story of a middle-class, Mysuru-born girl, who journeyed from a school in the southernmost city of Karnataka, pulled out of sports, pursued economics— a tough subject to master—taught at hallowed US universities, and finally landed at the IMF. Gopinath, who had earlier announced her return to Harvard University by January, has got a surprise promotion. As First Deputy Managing Director, she will become the number two official at the IMF. There’s more to come. Surely.