Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has appointed Dr. Okonjo-Iweala and 11 others to serve as external advisory group to the IMF. IMF in a statement said “IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva names a group of prominent individuals to serve as her new External Advisory Group. The eminent group from around the world draws on high-level policy, market, and private sector experience to provide insights to enhance the Fund’s ability to serve its membership. It said that the new external advisory group is to provide perspectives from around the globe on key developments and policy issues, including policy responses to the exceptional challenges the world now faces due to the novel coronavirus and its economic impact.
The members of the Managing Director’s External Advisory Group are: Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister of Nigeria; Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of Singapore and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore; Ms. Kristin Forbes, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Mr. Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia; Lord Mark Malloch Brown, former United Nations Deputy Secretary-General; Mr. Feike Sijbesima, Honorary Chair, DSM, Former CEO, Royal DSM; Mr. Raghuram Rajan, Professor, University of Chicago. Others are Ms. Ana Botín, Group Executive Chairman, Santander; Ms. Carmen Reinhart, Professor, Harvard University; Mr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, Chief Economic Adviser, Allianz; Mr. Scott Minerd, Chief Investment Officer, Guggenheim Investments; Ms. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Chair of ActionAid International;
The Managing Director’s External Advisory Group will meet a few times a year with the IMF’s Managing Director, Deputy Managing Directors, and a sub-set of IMF department Directors. According to the IMF “Even before the spread of Covid-19 and the dramatic health, economic, and financial disruptions it has brought, IMF members confronted a rapidly evolving world and complex policy issues,” Ms. Georgieva said. “To serve our membership well in this context, we need top-notch input and expertise from the widest range of sources, inside and outside the Fund. “Toward this end, I am proud that an exceptional and diverse group of eminent individuals with high-level policy, market, and private sector experience has agreed to serve on my External Advisory Group. Today we had a dynamic discussion to gain their insights, and to receive informal reactions to our ideas and approaches,” she added.
