Ex-president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been tipped to play a more senior role at the International Monetary Fund or IMF, a day after she celebrated her 80th birth anniversary.IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, on Tuesday, October 30, 2018 named Mrs. Sirleaf to one of its two external advisory groups consisting of economic, financial, and public policy experts to inform the IMF’s 2020 Comprehensive Surveillance Review (CSR).
Other members of the Advisory Group are Mr. Mohamed A. El-Erian. Chief Economic Advisor, Allianz. Mr. Yiping Huang. Professor of Economics, National School of Development, Peking University. Mr. Dani Rodrik. Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Ms. Gertrude Tumpel Gugerell. Emerita Consultant, Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO).
The periodic review seeks to explore the IMF’s effectiveness in monitoring global economic developments and delivering policy advice to its 189 member countries. It will be forward-looking in nature and framed by the global macro-financial environment and other secular trends, including digital technology. The review will guide the IMF’s operational priorities through 2025.
“To accomplish this task, the CSR will take account of the strategic challenges and opportunities facing the IMF and its membership in ensuring sustained, balanced, and inclusive global growth,” Managing Director Lagarde stated. “The review will also assess the Fund’s capabilities and how it can innovate and adapt to continue to provide value to our members.
“As we embark on the CSR, we are proud to have access to the expertise of two groups of eminent people. The first such group consists of thought leaders who will provide overall guidance on surveillance challenges facing the Fund and help us chart the course for new policy approaches to enhance economic prosperity and maintain global economic stability. And because the CSR will position the Fund’s surveillance function against the backdrop of the ongoing global technological transformation, we hope to richly benefit from leading thinkers and practitioners with experience in revolutionary industries in our second advisory group,” she added.
The External Advisory Group on Surveillance will serve as an independent check on staff analysis and will make recommendations that will be set out in the CSR. The Group will engage with Fund staff on the priorities and strategic direction of the review, and subsequently inform the emerging findings and staff’s preliminary recommendations. The Group’s independent views will be communicated to the IMF Executive Board, which will ultimately establish the Fund’s surveillance priorities.
