The International Monetary Fund expects a slowdown in global economic growth in 2023

Kristalina Georgieva

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, expected today, Thursday, a slowdown in global economic growth in 2023.

Georgieva said - in a speech from Washington today - that she expects the global economy to grow by 3% over the next five years, which is the lowest growth forecast in the medium term since 1990.

The Director of the International Monetary Fund suggested that emerging economies, especially China and India, will lead growth in 2023, while developed countries, especially in the United States of America and the euro zone, will lead a decline in growth with the continuation of interest rates and inflation.

She added that some of the impetus will come from emerging economies, but it is expected that about 90% of advanced economies will witness a decline in their growth rate this year, pointing to the continued impact of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, especially in advanced economies.

It predicted that the current trade slump would cost about 7% of global GDP, roughly equal to the combined annual output of Germany and Japan.

Georgieva said that the fund has allocated nearly 300 billion dollars for the benefit of 96 countries, including the allocation of special drawing rights of 650 billion dollars, precautionary facilities for countries such as Morocco, innovative solutions to food crises, flexibility and sustainability, and financing for countries exposed to major crises such as Sri Lanka and Ukraine.

According to Georgieva, the fund has increased its interest-free loans by more than 4 times, to reach $24 billion, since the start of the Corona pandemic.

Kristalina Georgieva

She is a Bulgarian economist who has served as the 12th Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019. The World Bank Group from 2017 to 2019 and served as Acting President of the World Bank Group from February 1 to April 8, 2019 following the resignation of Jim Yong Kim. She previously served as Vice President of the European Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker from 2014 to 2016.

In 2021, an independent investigation found that Georgieva instructed World Bank staff to amplify data to make China look better during her tenure as CEO. However, the IMF's executive board determined that the investigation had "not conclusively established" the wrongdoing, and expressed confidence in Georgieva's leadership.

Georgieva was born in Sofia into a family of bureaucrats. Her father was a civil engineer who oversaw government road construction projects, and her grandfather was a prominent Bulgarian revolutionary, Ivan Karchovsky.

Georgieva holds a PhD in Economics and an MA in Political Economy and Sociology from the Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics (now the University of National and World Economy) in Sofia. Her thesis was on “Environmental Policy and Economic Growth in the United States of America”. She also did postgraduate research in natural resource economics and environmental policy at the London School of Economics in the late 1980s and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has written more than 100 academic papers and authored a book on microeconomics.

Georgieva is fluent in Bulgarian, English and Russian, and also speaks some French. She has held a range of academic and advisory positions in Bulgaria and the United States, and has made presentations at the Australian National University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University, Yale University, Harvard University, London School of Economics, and Southern University. Pacific.

Georgieva began her career with the World Bank Group in 1993 as an environmental economist for Europe and Central Asia. Subsequently, she held various positions at the Bank, eventually rising to become Director of the Environmental Department responsible for environmental strategy, policy, and lending at the World Bank. In this position, she oversaw approximately 60% of the World Bank Group's lending operations. From 2004 to 2007 she was the director of the Foundation and the resident actress of the Russian Federation based in Moscow.

She returned to Washington, D.C., to take up the position of Director of Strategy and Operations, Sustainable Development. Her last position at the World Bank, Vice President and Company Secretary, conveyed primary responsibility for liaising with members of the Foundation's Board of Executive Directors, who represent the Bank's shareholders (the governments of member countries). During that time, I worked on reforming the bank's governance and the accompanying capital increase. In January 2010, Georgieva announced her intention to resign from this position in light of her candidacy for membership of the European Union Commission.