Press Release No. 20/372

IMFC Selects Sweden’s Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson as New Chair

December 17, 2020

Washington, DC: The members of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the policy advisory committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have selected Ms. Magdalena Andersson, Sweden’s Minister for Finance, as Chair of the Committee for a term of three years, effective January 18, 2021. Ms. Andersson succeeds Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, who has chaired the IMFC since January 18, 2018. She will be the first woman to hold the position.

Ms. Andersson has been Minister for Finance since October 2014. Her previously held positions include Deputy Director-General at the Swedish Tax Agency, State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Director of Planning at the Prime Minister's Office, and Political Advisor at the Prime Minister's Office.

She has served as member of the European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council, and as a member of the Boards of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), and the World Bank Group. She was also a Board member of the Policy Network, an international think tank based in London, from 2005 to 2009.

Background

The IMFC, comprising finance ministers and central bank governors, is the primary advisory body of the IMF Board of Governors and deliberates on the principal policy issues facing the IMF. The Committee has 24 members, reflecting the composition of the IMF Executive Board. Each member country or group of countries that elects an Executive Director also appoints a member of the Committee. The IMFC normally meets twice a year—in the spring and at the time of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in the fall. Its next meeting is scheduled to be held on April 10, 2021 in Washington, D.C.