The International Monetary Fund said that Silvana Tenreyro will serve as the lender’s new chief economist and lead its research department starting in August, according to a statement Tuesday.
Formally an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from 2017 to 2023, she is an economics professor at the London School of Economics. She was also president of the European Economic Association.
“At a time of profound transformation and heightened uncertainty in the global economy, Silvana’s mix of intellectual leadership and policy experience will help ensure that the Fund’s analytical work and multilateral surveillance and policy advice will remain at the cutting edge in support of our membership,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.
Tenreyro holds a PhD from Harvard University and a degree in economics from the National University of Tucumán in Argentina. She also currently serves as part of the IMF Managing Director’s External Advisory Group.
Tenreyro, an Argentine, British, and Italian national born in San Miguel de Tucumán, will lead the IMF’s economic projections at a time when the global economy is not only facing a new wave of inflation from conflict in the Middle East but also navigating a rush by companies to invest in and adopt artificial intelligence technology.
Last year, she was named to Anthropic’s Economic Advisory Council, which advises the company on the impact of artificial intelligence on the labour market and economy.
She succeeds Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, who recently returned to academia. Tenreyro is the second woman in the role after Gita Gopinath and will assume her role August 10.
Top economists have in recent times stayed in the job anywhere from three years – in the case of Gopinath, and Gourinchas’s immediate predecessor – to seven years – when Olivier Blanchard held the role from 2008 to 2015.
by Jorgelina do Rosario, Bloomberg
