BIZ BUZZ: Coming soon: New IMF rep

The Philippines is getting a new resident representative from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Ragnar Gudmundsson has returned to the IMF headquarters in Washington D.C. as his still-unnamed successor is set to take over in January 2025.

This marks the end of Gudmundsson’s term that ran for three years after being chosen for the position back in October 2021. He recently hosted the visiting IMF team that trimmed growth forecasts on the Philippines for this year and the next on expectations that consumption would grow “with less momentum” amid lingering effects of inflation.

Before being assigned to the Philippines, Gudmundsson was a senior economist at the Asia and Pacific department of the IMF and the mission chief for Macau.

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He also previously served as the IMF’s resident representative in Bangladesh from 2017 to 2020, the West Bank and Gaza from 2014 to 2017, and Kenya from 2010 to 2014.

Whoever will replace Gudmundsson has big shoes to fill and would have to work with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona Jr., who had confronted the IMF a year ago about the quality of the assessment team coming to town to look at the public sector.