Press Release No. 2224

Louis Marc Ducharme to Retire as Director of the IMF's Statistics Department

January 31, 2022

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced today that Louis Marc Ducharme, the Fund’s Chief Statistician and Data Officer and Director of the Statistics Department (STA), intends to retire from the Fund on May 31.

“Louis Marc will be greatly missed for his outstanding contributions to the Fund and our member countries, and I am grateful for the excellent advice he has provided to me and the Management team. Since joining the Fund in 2013 as STA Director, he has led the department’s work on data, methodologies, capacity development, and what was then a newly emerging topic, the digital economy.

“Louis Marc has been at the forefront of our work on data management at the Fund,” Ms. Georgieva said. “In March 2018, the Board approved a new IMF Data and Statistics Strategy that he had championed, recognizing the role of economic data as a key institutional asset and global public good, and the need for the Fund to keep pace with the fast-changing data landscape. In that same year, he was made the Fund’s Chief Statistician and Data Officer. He leaves a distinguished legacy that speaks to the value of economic data in supporting policy decisions in a fast-changing world.

“During his nine years in STA, Louis Marc also oversaw the development and promotion of statistical methodologies that are incorporated in the more than two dozen manuals and guidelines produced by the department and used as primary reference material by statisticians and economists around the world,” Ms. Georgieva stated. “He was also at the forefront of the G-20 Data Gaps Initiative, which helped develop and implement new conceptual frameworks for statistics to assist the Fund in its surveillance work. Under his leadership, the department also created the IMF Statistical Forum, an annual gathering of statistical and financial experts that has become a flagship event for the Fund.

“Throughout his remarkable career, he also fervently promoted the development and use of good source data in the construction of the main economic indicators in emerging economies and low-income countries. His strong background in capacity development, enhanced by many years of providing technical assistance to countries in Latin America, and chairing the UN Voorburg Group on Service Statistics, translated into his leadership on capacity development issues at the Fund.”

A Canadian national, Mr. Ducharme came to the Fund after more than 30 years at Statistics Canada, the Canadian national statistical agency, where he held various positions in the areas of economic statistics. His last position at Statistics Canada was Assistant Chief Statistician responsible for the strategic planning and management of all economic statistics.

The search for Mr. Ducharme’s successor will begin shortly. “Louis Marc deserves enormous credit for his remarkable achievements and contributions. His warm collegiality, technical prowess, and strategic leadership will be sorely missed by friends and colleagues. We wish him all the best for the future,” Ms. Georgieva concluded.