Press Release No. 23/53

IMF Managing Director Appoints Rodrigo Valdés as Director of the Western Hemisphere Department

February 28, 2023

Washington, DC: Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to appoint Mr. Rodrigo Valdés as Director of the Fund’s Western Hemisphere Department (WHD). Mr. Valdés will assume his role as the head of the IMF’s department in charge of relations with member countries in the Americas on May 1, 2023. He will succeed Ilan Goldfajn, who separated from the Fund to become the seventh President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“I am delighted that Rodrigo will join our team as the new WHD Director. He is no stranger to the Fund, having served as Deputy Director in the WHD and European Departments from 2009 to 2012, where he is remembered as a caring manager and for his intellectual heft as he helped countries navigate the aftermath of the global financial crisis,” said Ms. Georgieva.

Mr. Valdés is currently a Professor of Economics in the School of Government at the Catholic University of Chile. Prior to this, he was Chile’s Minister of Finance from 2015 to 2017. He spent more than 16 years in Chile’s public sector serving in various leading positions both at the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, where he was Director of Research and Chief Economist responsible for producing the Bank’s Monetary Policy Report and overseeing macroeconomic analysis.

He has also had an outstanding career in Chile’s banking sector. At BTG Pactual, he led the macroeconomic research team for Latin America excluding Brazil, and he was Board and Executive Committee President at Banco Estado, Chile’s sole state-owned bank. He also worked at Barclays Capital in New York as Director and Chief Economist for Latin America. “Rodrigo has impressive experience in the public and private sectors and is widely respected for his leadership and academic qualities. His stellar record as a policymaker, outstanding analytical and communications skills, and in-depth knowledge of international finance and the Fund will be invaluable for our membership at this critical time for the region and the global community,” added Ms. Georgieva.

Mr. Valdés holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chile. He is a prolific author whose economic research has appeared in international journals and books. He has also worked as an editor of various publications, and he has received numerous scholarly and public policy influence awards in Latin America and the US, including “Most Influential Economist of the Year” from leading newspapers in Chile.