WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Monday that Gita Gopinath, IMF's first deputy managing director, would be leaving the fund at the end of August to return to Harvard University.

Gopinath joined the IMF in January 2019 as chief economist -- the first woman to serve in that role -- and was promoted to first deputy managing director in January 2022.

Gopinath, who had left Harvard University to join the IMF, will return to the university as a professor of economics in the department of economics.

Calling Gopinath "an outstanding colleague -- an exceptional intellectual leader," Georgieva said that "her analytical rigor was paired with practical policy advice to the membership during an especially challenging period, which included the pandemic, wars, the cost-of-living crisis, and major shifts in the global trading system."

A successor to Gopinath is expected to be named "in due course" by Georgieva, according to an IMF statement.

Traditionally, European countries have selected the fund's managing director, while the U.S. Treasury Department has played a key role in recommending candidates for the position of first deputy managing director -- widely regarded as the number two position in the organization's leadership hierarchy. ■