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Former Bank of England policymaker Silvana Tenreyro is set to become the next chief economist of the IMF.
Tenreyro, now a professor at the London School of Economics, will take over from Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas in the coming months, the Fund said on Tuesday.
Tenreyro, who holds British, Italian and Argentine citizenship, will be responsible for providing the institution with guidance on the design of its economic bailouts and directly advising the managing director.
As head of the IMF’s research department, she will lead a team of economists and produce research alongside some of the fund’s flagship economic publications, including the closely watched semi-annual World Economic Outlook forecasts for global growth and inflation.
Interviews for the position were held with the IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva last week, with many within the fund expecting the role to go to a US economist.
Georgieva praised Tenreyro as “an exceptional leader and communicator” with an “openness to diverse perspectives”.
“These qualities will serve her well as one of the fund’s principal voices on the global economic outlook and as the leader of the research department,” she added.
Tenreyro is only the second woman to take on the role, following in the footsteps of Harvard professor Gita Gopinath, who held the position from 2019 to 2022.
The LSE economist holds a doctorate in economics from Harvard University and has won plaudits for her research on monetary economics and trade.
Mahmood Pradhan, a former senior IMF official who is now a fellow at Bruegel, the Brussels-based think-tank, described the appointment as “an inspired choice”.
“Silvana is a worthy successor to Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas who will add rigour to the IMF’s economic analysis and advice.”
Tenreyro served on the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee from 2017 until 2023, where she was viewed as one of the most dovish members of the rate-setting body — despite the UK suffering from its worst bout of inflation in decades.
Earlier in her career she also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Mauritian central bank.
