Press Release No. 20/286

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu to Become Director of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department

August 25, 2020

Washington, DC – Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to name Ms. Ceyla Pazarbasioglu as Director of the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department. Ms. Pazarbasioglu is expected to assume her new role on September 15, 2020 and will succeed Martin Mühleisen, whose appointment as a Special Advisor to the Managing Director in OMD was announced in July and will begin on September 15.

Ms. Pazarbasioglu is currently the World Bank Group’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI), a position she has held since October 1, 2018. In that role, she focuses on helping low- and middle-income countries build the foundations for sustainable and inclusive growth. She has represented the World Bank as the G7 and G20 Finance Deputy and as a member of the Financial Stability Board.

Commenting on the appointment, Ms. Georgieva stated, “I am delighted that Ceyla will be rejoining the Fund and strengthening our team. She is an intellectual leader with profound knowledge of how institutions such as the Fund and Bank operate and work together, significant experience on how to design policies to help people especially in emerging markets and low-income countries, and excellent people management skills. Her outstanding diplomatic touch, leadership ability and record, and institutional knowledge and commitment will help the Fund as it seeks to even more effectively serve our member countries in a very challenging economic environment.”

Before joining the World Bank Group, Ms. Pazarbasioglu had a long and distinguished career at the IMF, where she rose through the ranks and became a deputy director of the Monetary and Capital Markets (MCM) Department. During her 23 years at the Fund, Ms. Pazarbasioglu has worked on a wide spectrum of policy and country issues, ranging from the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and the global regulatory reform agenda, to regional and country work on emerging Europe, the United Kingdom, Korea, and Thailand. She was instrumental in helping to reform and reshape the Fund’s work in the area of financial stability.

As Director of Strategy, Policy, and Review, Ms. Pazarbasioglu will have primary responsibility for providing strong and forward-looking intellectual leadership and strategic vision for the Fund’s direction and policy development and application, as well as on country matters. In this role, she will lead the Fund’s engagement with the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the Development Committee, and the G20 and other institutions and groups including the UN, regional development banks and financial institutions, the G7, and the G24. She is ideally placed to deepen policy and operational collaboration between the IMF and the World Bank, relying on the two institutions’ respective expertise in macroeconomic, financial, sectoral, and social issues.

Ms. Pazarbasioglu, a Turkish national, has had high-level public sector experience, including working in the Turkish government and current membership on the Financial Stability Board (FSB). She also has considerable private sector experience, including serving as the Chief Economist of Emerging European Markets at ABN AMRO Investment Bank in the UK. Her academic credentials include a PhD in Economics from Georgetown University.