Ms Kristalina Georgieva, the newly appointed Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, has pledged the Funds support to tackle economic crisis among countries.

She disclosed this in her letter to the executive board after she was selected as the new head of the Fund.

She stated, “As I noted in my statement to the executive board, our immediate priority is to help countries minimise the risk of crises and be ready to cope with downturns.

“Yet, we should not lose sight of our long-term objective – to support sound monetary, fiscal and structural policies to build stronger economies and improve people’s lives. This means also dealing with issues like inequalities, climate risks and rapid technological change.”

Georgieva noted that it was a huge responsibility to be at the helm of the IMF at a time when global economic growth continued to disappoint, trade tensions persisted and debt was at historically high levels.

She said, “For our readiness to act, safeguarding the Fund’s financial strength is essential, and so are enhancing its surveillance and capacity development efforts. Working with my team, my goal is to further strengthen the Fund by making it even more forward-looking and attentive to the needs of our members.”

The new IMF boss said she looked forward to working with all its 189-member countries, the executive board and staff, and with all its partners in the years ahead.

Georgieva, a national of Bulgaria, had been the chief executive officer of the World Bank since January 2017.

From February 1, 2019 to April 8, 2019, she was the interim president for the World Bank Group.

Starting in 2010, she was at the European Commission, where she served as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, then as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources.