Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Wednesday announced her intention to appoint Indian national Krishna Srinivasan as director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD).

Srinivasan's appointment as APD director will be effective from June 22, 2022. He will succeed Changyong Rhee, whose retirement from the Fund was announced on March 23, 2022.

Srinivasan has more than 27 years of experience at IMF, starting with the Economist Program in 1994. He is currently a deputy director in APD, where he oversees the department's surveillance work on a number of large and systemically important countries such as China and Korea, and smaller states in the Pacific such as Fiji and Vanuatu. He also oversees APD's work on key ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia and Singapore, as well-advanced economies, including Australia and New Zealand.

During the global financial crisis, while in the research department, Srinivasan led the Fund's work on the G20 including the preparation of analytical notes for the meetings of the G20 ministers and leaders.

"Krishna is a highly regarded member of our Fund family and has made many important and innovative contributions to our mission throughout his career at the Fund. His appointment to the Director position is a culmination of his superior record of leadership across a wide range of departments, including African Department (AFR), European Department (EUR), Monetary and Capital Market Department (MCM), RES, Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR), and West Hemisphere Department (WHD). This range of work and experiences is reflective of his career during which he has worked on the full spectrum of the Fund's membership from low-income countries, to emerging markets, and advanced economies," says Georgieva.

"He has made his mark as a strategic thinker, innovator, and people manager. In fact, he was one of the first managers to receive the Fund's Excellence in Leadership Award when it was inaugurated in 2010. That same year, he was also one of the first to receive the IMF's award for extraordinary effort, which speaks to Krishna's willingness to go above and beyond to ensure that the Fund is providing the best service to its membership," Georgieva adds.

Prior to joining the Fund, Srinivasan was an assistant professor of Economics and International Finance at Indiana-Purdue University and a consultant at the World Bank in DC and the Center for Policy Research and Planning Commission in New Delhi. His wide research on Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and on climate and other economic and development issues has appeared in books, academic journals, and media publications.

Srinivasan holds a PhD (Honours) in Economics from Indiana University, a Master's in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Bachelor's (Honours) in Economics from the University of Delhi.

Srinivasan has been a thought leader on bringing climate into the Fund's macroeconomic work, including through piloting disaster resilience strategies. He has worked on sovereign debt restructuring, access to capital markets, private sector involvement in resolving financial crises, and lending into arrears.

IMF APD

IMF appoints Krishna Srinivasan as director of Asia and Pacific Department