Patrizia Tumbarello
Last Updated: June 07, 2021

Patrizia Tumbarello is the Chief of the Strategy, Standards, and Review Division—the surveillance division of the Statistics Department (STA), with purview of Article IV and Article VIII issues. Her division leads the policy and operational work of the “Data Standards Initiatives” at the IMF (e-GDDS, SDDS, and SDDS plus), within and outside the institution; Review of the Policy Framework "Data Provision to the Fund for Surveillance Purposes" which facilitate the provision and dissemination of data for surveillance by member countries, in collaboration with the Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR) and the Legal Department (LEG); and “Third-Party Indicators” policy, with SPR. She is responsible for STA Review of Fund's Policy and Country documents. She recently led the SDDS mission to Saudi Arabia which became an SDDS subscriber, as a part of the Saudi Vision 2030, ahead of the G20 Presidency, and the e-GDDS mission to Angola. Before this job she was for five years the Unit Chief of the Pacific Islands/Small States Unit in APD. During her tenure, a transformational organization in APD led the unit to acquire larger responsibilities in coordinating all the work of 12 small states in the Pacific (previously assigned to different divisions), three quarters of which were also low-income countries and fragile states, paving the way for turning the unit into a division. She advocated for the macro-criticality of climate change in Fund's work to enhance resilience in small states starting in 2010, organizing high-level conferences with management and senior leaders’ participation, leading analysis, developing training for mission chiefs, co-leading Board papers and proposing in 2016, with Western Hemisphere Department and SPR the introduction of Climate Change Policy Assessments, endorsed by the Board in 2016, and launched in 2017. During her tenure as mission chief for the Solomon Islands during 2011-16, she negotiated successfully and completed all Reviews of the ECF and two Standby Arrangements. She also conducted three Article IV consultations as a mission chief (two for Solomon Islands and one for Kiribati). In that context she also advocated for regional and multilateral solutions to tackle the challenges Solomon Islands, a complex fragile state and more in general the Pacific islands, faced from a financial stability perspective, due to the loss of corresponding banking relationships (CBRs), meeting with the FED and key development partners, working closely with the WB and ADB. Her previous assignments included senior desk work on Australia (G20), low-income countries (Moldova, The Gambia), including few Pacific Islands (Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa), EMs (Albania, Algeria, Morocco, and Vietnam), accumulating experience on a wide range of countries (program, surveillance, G20, small, fragile, LICs, and EMs). She also worked for five years in SPR on trade policy, multilateral surveillance, and DSAs. Her research papers have focused on enhancing macroeconomic resilience to climate change, challenges faced by low-income-countries and fragile states in dealing with loss of CBR, on fiscal frameworks, trade integration, corporate, banks’, and households balance sheet’s vulnerabilities, and more recently on big data, on data transparency and governance, and on measuring the impact of digitalization on inequality. While in STA, she led the interdepartmental work of the first Strategy on Data and Statistics at the Fund endorsed by the Board in 2018 managing a Fund wide Taskforce of 40 members, also liaising with many external stakeholders. She led the team who organized the first data Hackathon at the Fund, which included all Taskforce members, the private sector (Google, Bloomberg, Haver), IFIs, and academia. The Data Strategy introduced transformational changes in the data governance at the IMF. In addition, the strategy identified six strategy priorities for the Fund, including supporting the use of big data.
Email: PTUMBARELLO@imf.org
Fluent In: French, Italian.
Education:
2000: Ph.D., Economics and Finance, Università di Roma Tor Vergata
1996-97: Harvard University, Special Student, Department of Economics
1995: Post master level degree: Economics of Financial and Capital markets, Received a certificate with distinction.
1994: M.A., Economics, Coripe Piemonte, Turin, Italy,
1992: Laurea Summa Cum Laude, Università di Roma La Sapienza
Referee Activities:
Journal of Economic Integration
Current Position:
Division Chief of the Strategy, Standards, and Review Division in the Statistics Department (STA)--the surveillance and policy division of STA. In this capacity she is responsible for STA Review of Policy and Country documents of IMF. Her division leads the policy and operational work of the Data Standards Initiatives at the IMF (e-GDDS, SDDDS and SDDS plus), Review of the Policy Framework "Data Provision to the Fund for Surveillance Purposes " in collaboration with the Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR) and the Legal Department (LEG), and the Third-Party Indicators Framework (policy and digest) with SPR.
Country work or Mission Assignment:
SDDS Mission Chief for Saudi Arabia, 2017-19, STA
e-GDDS Mission Chief for Angola, 2018, STA
Solomon Islands Mission Chief, 2011-16, APD
Australia, 2009-11, Senior desk APD
Kiribati Mission Chief, 2010-11, APD
Samoa, July 2009-January 2010, Senior desk APD
Papua New Guinea, 2008-09, Senior desk, APD
Vietnam, 2006-08, Economist APD
The Gambia, 12/2004-6/2005, SPR (Ex post assessment)
Albania, 2003-05, SPR economist
Moldova, 2000-02, SPR economist
Morocco, 1999-2000, EP, MCD
Algeria, 6/1999-12/1999, EP MCD
Teaching:
Teaching assistant, Universita' di Roma Tor Vergata, Macroeconomics, Prof. Nicola Rossi
IMF Career:
September 2016--Present, Division Chief, Strategy, Standards and Review Division, Statistics Department
August 2011-16: Unit Chief, Small States Unit, Mission Chief for Solomon Islands, Asia and Pacific Department
February 2009–July 2011, Senior Desk Economist for Australia, Asia and Pacific Department
December 2009-July 2011, Mission Chief for Kiribati, Asia and Pacific Department
March 2008–March 2009, Senior Desk Economist for Papua New Guinea, Asia and Pacific Department
June 2005–February 2008: Vietnam Desk Economist, Asia and Pacific Department
2000-May 2005: Economist, Trade Policy Division, Policy Development and Review Department
1999: Economist Program, Desk for Algeria and Morocco, Middle Eastern Department
Others:
Ph.d.: Does the Equity Premium Matter? Social Security Reform Under Uncertainty
M.A.: The 1992-93 European Financial Crisis: The Role of Rational Expectations in Financial Markets
Laurea: The Monetary Policy of British India, 1852-1931, in Italian
Prof. Dale Jorgenson (djorgenson@harvard.edu)
Field of Expertise:
Development Economics
Poverty and Inequality
Open Economy Macroeconomics
Macro-Financial Issues
International Trade
IMF Books and Working Papers:
Big Data on Vessel Traffic: Nowcasting Trade Flows in Real Time , Working Paper No. 19/275 , December 13, 2019
Strengthening Fiscal Frameworks and Improving the Spending Mix in Small States , Working Paper No. 15/124 , June 19, 2015
Enhancing Macroeconomic Resilience to Natural Disasters and Climate Change in the Small States of the Pacific , Working Paper No. 15/125 , June 19, 2015
Resilience and Growth in the Small States of the Pacific , Working Paper No. 13/123 , May 22, 2013
Global and Regional Spillovers to Pacific Island Countries , Working Paper No. 12/154 , June 01, 2012
What Drives House Prices in Australia? A Cross-Country Approach , Working Paper No. 10/291 , December 01, 2010
Australian Bank and Corporate Sector Vulnerabilities--An International Perspective , Working Paper No. 09/223 , October 01, 2009
Are Regional Trade Agreements in Asia Stumbling or Building Blocks? Some Implications for the Mekong-3 Countries , Working Paper No. 07/53 , March 01, 2007
Regional Trade Integration and WTO Accession: Which is the Right Sequencing? An Application to the CIS , Working Paper No. 05/94 , May 01, 2005
IMF Country Reports
Solomon Islands: Fourth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement.
Australia: Staff Report for the 2011 Article IV Consultation
Fiscal Policy in Commodity Exporting Countries, Box 1.8 APD, 2010, Regional Economic Outlook
"Regional Trade Integration in Asia", Box 2, Asia and Pacific Regional Update, January 2006
The Gambia: Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement
IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers
Australia: Households Vulnerabilities, with Ben Hunt
What Drives Inflation in Vietnam? A Regional Approach, Chapter 1
IMF Survey Articles
IMF Survey: Australian, New Zealand Banks Remain Sound During Global Crisis
IMF Survey: High Food, Fuel Prices a Threat Where Protection Limited
IMF Survey: Noodle Bowl' Risk of Trade Pact Overlap
IMF Survey: Joining WTO Will Boost Vietnam's Economy
Regional Integration and WTO Accession: What's the Right Sequencing for the CIS? September 2005
Other Published Materials
What Do Ship Movements Tell us About International Trade? A Big Data Story
Books
Other Published Materials
The Italian Pension Reform: A Case for Notional Accounts, Mimeo, 1997, Harvard University.
Pro-cyclicality of Maastrich Fiscal Criteria: A Critique, 1995, Università di Roma La Sapienza

Patrizia Tumbarello is the Chief of the Strategy, Standards, and Review Division—the surveillance division of the Statistics Department (STA), with purview of Article IV and Article VIII issues. Her division leads the policy and operational work of the “Data Standards Initiatives” at the IMF (e-GDDS, SDDS, and SDDS plus), within and outside the institution; Review of the Policy Framework "Data Provision to the Fund for Surveillance Purposes" which facilitate the provision and dissemination of data for surveillance by member countries, in collaboration with the Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR) and the Legal Department (LEG); and “Third-Party Indicators” policy, with SPR. She is responsible for STA Review of Fund's Policy and Country documents. She recently led the SDDS mission to Saudi Arabia which became an SDDS subscriber, as a part of the Saudi Vision 2030, ahead of the G20 Presidency, and the e-GDDS mission to Angola. Before this job she was for five years the Unit Chief of the Pacific Islands/Small States Unit in APD. During her tenure, a transformational organization in APD led the unit to acquire larger responsibilities in coordinating all the work of 12 small states in the Pacific (previously assigned to different divisions), three quarters of which were also low-income countries and fragile states, paving the way for turning the unit into a division. She advocated for the macro-criticality of climate change in Fund's work to enhance resilience in small states starting in 2010, organizing high-level conferences with management and senior leaders’ participation, leading analysis, developing training for mission chiefs, co-leading Board papers and proposing in 2016, with Western Hemisphere Department and SPR the introduction of Climate Change Policy Assessments, endorsed by the Board in 2016, and launched in 2017. During her tenure as mission chief for the Solomon Islands during 2011-16, she negotiated successfully and completed all Reviews of the ECF and two Standby Arrangements. She also conducted three Article IV consultations as a mission chief (two for Solomon Islands and one for Kiribati). In that context she also advocated for regional and multilateral solutions to tackle the challenges Solomon Islands, a complex fragile state and more in general the Pacific islands, faced from a financial stability perspective, due to the loss of corresponding banking relationships (CBRs), meeting with the FED and key development partners, working closely with the WB and ADB. Her previous assignments included senior desk work on Australia (G20), low-income countries (Moldova, The Gambia), including few Pacific Islands (Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa), EMs (Albania, Algeria, Morocco, and Vietnam), accumulating experience on a wide range of countries (program, surveillance, G20, small, fragile, LICs, and EMs). She also worked for five years in SPR on trade policy, multilateral surveillance, and DSAs. Her research papers have focused on enhancing macroeconomic resilience to climate change, challenges faced by low-income-countries and fragile states in dealing with loss of CBR, on fiscal frameworks, trade integration, corporate, banks’, and households balance sheet’s vulnerabilities, and more recently on big data, on data transparency and governance, and on measuring the impact of digitalization on inequality. While in STA, she led the interdepartmental work of the first Strategy on Data and Statistics at the Fund endorsed by the Board in 2018 managing a Fund wide Taskforce of 40 members, also liaising with many external stakeholders. She led the team who organized the first data Hackathon at the Fund, which included all Taskforce members, the private sector (Google, Bloomberg, Haver), IFIs, and academia. The Data Strategy introduced transformational changes in the data governance at the IMF. In addition, the strategy identified six strategy priorities for the Fund, including supporting the use of big data.
Email: PTUMBARELLO@imf.org
Fluent In: French, Italian.
Education:
2000: Ph.D., Economics and Finance, Università di Roma Tor Vergata
1996-97: Harvard University, Special Student, Department of Economics
1995: Post master level degree: Economics of Financial and Capital markets, Received a certificate with distinction.
1994: M.A., Economics, Coripe Piemonte, Turin, Italy,
1992: Laurea Summa Cum Laude, Università di Roma La Sapienza
Referee Activities:
Journal of Economic Integration
Current Position:
Division Chief of the Strategy, Standards, and Review Division in the Statistics Department (STA)--the surveillance and policy division of STA. In this capacity she is responsible for STA Review of Policy and Country documents of IMF. Her division leads the policy and operational work of the Data Standards Initiatives at the IMF (e-GDDS, SDDDS and SDDS plus), Review of the Policy Framework "Data Provision to the Fund for Surveillance Purposes " in collaboration with the Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR) and the Legal Department (LEG), and the Third-Party Indicators Framework (policy and digest) with SPR.
Country work or Mission Assignment:
SDDS Mission Chief for Saudi Arabia, 2017-19, STA
e-GDDS Mission Chief for Angola, 2018, STA
Solomon Islands Mission Chief, 2011-16, APD
Australia, 2009-11, Senior desk APD
Kiribati Mission Chief, 2010-11, APD
Samoa, July 2009-January 2010, Senior desk APD
Papua New Guinea, 2008-09, Senior desk, APD
Vietnam, 2006-08, Economist APD
The Gambia, 12/2004-6/2005, SPR (Ex post assessment)
Albania, 2003-05, SPR economist
Moldova, 2000-02, SPR economist
Morocco, 1999-2000, EP, MCD
Algeria, 6/1999-12/1999, EP MCD
Teaching:
Teaching assistant, Universita' di Roma Tor Vergata, Macroeconomics, Prof. Nicola Rossi
IMF Career:
September 2016--Present, Division Chief, Strategy, Standards and Review Division, Statistics Department
August 2011-16: Unit Chief, Small States Unit, Mission Chief for Solomon Islands, Asia and Pacific Department
February 2009–July 2011, Senior Desk Economist for Australia, Asia and Pacific Department
December 2009-July 2011, Mission Chief for Kiribati, Asia and Pacific Department
March 2008–March 2009, Senior Desk Economist for Papua New Guinea, Asia and Pacific Department
June 2005–February 2008: Vietnam Desk Economist, Asia and Pacific Department
2000-May 2005: Economist, Trade Policy Division, Policy Development and Review Department
1999: Economist Program, Desk for Algeria and Morocco, Middle Eastern Department
Others:
Ph.d.: Does the Equity Premium Matter? Social Security Reform Under Uncertainty
M.A.: The 1992-93 European Financial Crisis: The Role of Rational Expectations in Financial Markets
Laurea: The Monetary Policy of British India, 1852-1931, in Italian
Prof. Dale Jorgenson (djorgenson@harvard.edu)
Field of Expertise:
Development Economics
Poverty and Inequality
Open Economy Macroeconomics
Macro-Financial Issues
International Trade
IMF Books and Working Papers:
Big Data on Vessel Traffic: Nowcasting Trade Flows in Real Time , Working Paper No. 19/275 , December 13, 2019
Strengthening Fiscal Frameworks and Improving the Spending Mix in Small States , Working Paper No. 15/124 , June 19, 2015
Enhancing Macroeconomic Resilience to Natural Disasters and Climate Change in the Small States of the Pacific , Working Paper No. 15/125 , June 19, 2015
Resilience and Growth in the Small States of the Pacific , Working Paper No. 13/123 , May 22, 2013
Global and Regional Spillovers to Pacific Island Countries , Working Paper No. 12/154 , June 01, 2012
What Drives House Prices in Australia? A Cross-Country Approach , Working Paper No. 10/291 , December 01, 2010
Australian Bank and Corporate Sector Vulnerabilities--An International Perspective , Working Paper No. 09/223 , October 01, 2009
Are Regional Trade Agreements in Asia Stumbling or Building Blocks? Some Implications for the Mekong-3 Countries , Working Paper No. 07/53 , March 01, 2007
Regional Trade Integration and WTO Accession: Which is the Right Sequencing? An Application to the CIS , Working Paper No. 05/94 , May 01, 2005
IMF Country Reports
Solomon Islands: Fourth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement.
Australia: Staff Report for the 2011 Article IV Consultation
Fiscal Policy in Commodity Exporting Countries, Box 1.8 APD, 2010, Regional Economic Outlook
"Regional Trade Integration in Asia", Box 2, Asia and Pacific Regional Update, January 2006
The Gambia: Ex Post Assessment of Longer-Term Program Engagement
IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers
Australia: Households Vulnerabilities, with Ben Hunt
What Drives Inflation in Vietnam? A Regional Approach, Chapter 1
IMF Survey Articles
IMF Survey: Australian, New Zealand Banks Remain Sound During Global Crisis
IMF Survey: High Food, Fuel Prices a Threat Where Protection Limited
IMF Survey: Noodle Bowl' Risk of Trade Pact Overlap
IMF Survey: Joining WTO Will Boost Vietnam's Economy
Regional Integration and WTO Accession: What's the Right Sequencing for the CIS? September 2005
Other Published Materials
What Do Ship Movements Tell us About International Trade? A Big Data Story
Books
Other Published Materials
The Italian Pension Reform: A Case for Notional Accounts, Mimeo, 1997, Harvard University.
Pro-cyclicality of Maastrich Fiscal Criteria: A Critique, 1995, Università di Roma La Sapienza