Kerala government economic adviser Gita Gopinath appointed IMF director of research
United Nations, Oct 1 : Eminent academic and economic adviser to the Kerala government, Gita Gopinath, was appointed on Monday as Director of the International Monetary Fund's Research Department.
Announcing the appointment, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called her "one of the world's outstanding economists with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership and extensive international experience".
"All this makes her exceptionally well-placed to lead our Research Department at this important juncture. I am delighted to name such a talented figure as our Chief Economist," she said in a statement.
The director of the IMF's Research Department oversees the World Economic Outlook Report that is considered a major survey of the global economy as well as several other reports and research projects that determine the financial and economic statuses of countries.
She succeeds Maurice Obstfeld, who announced in July that he would retire at the end of this year.
Gopinath, who received her MA degree from the Delhi School of Economics, is the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University.
She is concurrently the economic adviser to the Chief Minister of Kerala and, according to her bio at Harvard, she was appointed in 2016 to the honorary position with the rank of principal secretary.
She has also served as a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group on G-20 Matters for India's Ministry of Finance.
She received her Ph.D in economics from Princeton University in 2001 for her work on international macroeconomics and trade and was an assistant professor at University of Chicago before moving to Harvard in 2005.
Her bachelor's degree was from Lady Sri Ram College in New Delhi.
She received the Bhagwati Prize for the best paper published in the Journal of International Economics in 2003 and 2004.
In 2014, she was named one of the top 25 economists under 45 by the IMF and she was a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2011.
Gopinath is also the co-editor of the American Economic Review and Handbook of International Economics, co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics Programme at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
She has authored some 40 research articles on exchange rates, trade and investment, international financial crises, monetary policy, debt and emerging market crises, according to the IMF.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
