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The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, announced Wednesday that Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh intends to conclude her service at the Fund on 12 September 2024.

“Antoinette has been a pillar of the Fund’s leadership team for many years,” said Georgieva. “Her incredible experience, deep integrity, and wise judgment have been invaluable to us, and her unwavering commitment to our institution has been truly exemplary.”

IMF said Ms. Sayeh, a Liberian national, has been a critical member of the IMF’s senior management team since March 2020. During her tenure, she oversaw vital areas of the IMF’s operations, policies, and corporate priorities, drawing on her deep knowledge of the institution. She is most known for her tireless advocacy for low-income and fragile and conflict-affected members of the IMF.

Ms. Sayeh also served as Director of the African Department from 2008 to 2016, becoming the first woman to lead an IMF regional department. In that role, she brought a deep understanding of the challenges facing the region and led a major transformation of the institution’s relationship with its member countries in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the statement by IMF.

The statement also said that she made notable contributions to key reforms of IMF policies on concessional financing, debt, and capacity development. She was a strong advocate for changes that enabled the IMF to provide emergency financing and debt relief to the three African countries hit by the Ebola crisis in 2014, the IMF noted.

“Antoinette represents the best of a life devoted to public service: genuine care for the well-being of the people we serve and her ability to place them front and centre of our work. This care and concern also extended to the staff of the Fund, for whom she has been a mentor, advisor, and coach to many,” Ms. Georgieva added.

Before taking up the post of IMF Deputy Managing Director, Ms. Sayeh was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Global Development from 2016 to 2020 and served as the external Co-Chair for the 19th Replenishment of the World Bank Group’s International Development Association.

As Minister of Finance in post-conflict Liberia from January 2006 through June 2008, Ms. Sayeh led the country through the clearance of its long-standing multilateral debt arrears and the HIPC Decision Point. Before joining Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Cabinet, she worked for the World Bank Group for 17 years, holding various senior positions. Prior to that, she worked in Liberia’s Ministries of Finance and Planning.

“Antoinette demonstrates that rare combination of institutional leadership, deep analytical capacity, unparalleled ethical standards, and sound judgment,” Ms. Georgieva said. “She will be greatly missed.”
 
The IMF said the process is underway to identify a candidate to succeed Ms. Sayeh as IMF Deputy Managing Director.