Ceyla Pazarbasioglu is Director of the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (SPR) of the IMF, a position she has held since 2020. Ms. Pazarbasioglu leads the work on the IMF’s strategic direction and the design and implementation of its policies and lending activities across all IMF member countries. In this capacity, she led the IMF’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including scaled up emergency financing, negotiations on the historic $650 billion 2021 general allocation of Special Drawing Rights, and creation of the IMF’s Food Shock Window in the wake of the 2022 food price shock. Ms. Pazarbasioglu’s deep expertise on sovereign debt issues was instrumental in launching several important initiatives to support countries dealing with debt challenges, such as the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for the IMF, the G-20 Common Framework for Debt Treatment for low-income countries facing unsustainable debt levels, and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) with the World Bank and the G-20 for countries outside of the Common Framework. She played a key role in establishing the Resilience and Sustainability Trust—the first IMF facility that provides long-term affordable financing for dealing with climate and pandemic challenges. In her role, Ms. Pazarbasioglu also oversees the IMF’s interactions with international bodies, such as the G7, G20, and United Nations and plays a key role in Fund engagement with the Board of Governors via the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and its collaboration with the World Bank Group (WBG).
Prior to her current position, Ms. Pazarbasioglu served at the WBG from 2015–2020, most recently as the Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions. She oversaw a portfolio of nearly $30 billion of operational and policy work and advisory engagements in the WBG Global Practices of Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation; Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment; Governance; and Poverty and Equity. She also had management responsibility for more than 2,200 staff in 138 countries, including 30 fragile and conflict-affected states.
Ms. Pazarbasioglu also worked on policy and country issues during two previous tenures at the IMF (1992–1998 and 2003–2015). She served as Deputy Director in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, in charge of the work on financial sector regulation and supervision and crisis management. She also worked as Assistant Director in the European Department and was the mission chief for Ukraine. Before that, she led the Emerging Markets chapters of the Global Financial Stability Report and worked on financial sector policies and restructuring, including in Argentina, Russia, and Uruguay. Prior to 1998, she focused on structural reforms after crises in the Nordic countries, Emerging Europe, Latin America, Türkiye as well as in Korea and Thailand.
Ms. Pazarbasioglu, a Turkish national, joined the Government of Türkiye crisis management team in 2001 to focus on reforming the pension system, establishing the inflation targeting regime, and implementing the “voluntary” debt swap. She was then appointed as the Vice President of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Türkiye. As a high-level government official, she worked closely with the Central Bank and the Treasury, with banking sector representatives as well as with the government to contain and resolve the crisis and to establish a credible regulatory and supervisory authority.
During 1998–2001, Ms. Pazarbasioglu served as the Chief Economist of Emerging European Markets at ABN AMRO Investment Bank in London.
She holds a doctorate in economics and finance from Georgetown University and studied at Princeton University (visiting scholar). She is a certified Securities and Financial Derivates Representative (from the U.K.) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder. She has published widely on financial crises; banking and corporate sector restructuring; regulatory reforms; macro-financial analysis; and debt management.
Last updated: January 8, 2025
