In a bid to effectively serve member countries in a very challenging economic environment, the International Monetary fund (IMF) has announced the appointment of Mr. Ceda Ogada as the Secretary of the Fund and Director of the Secretary’s Department with effect from September 1, 2020.
His appointment follows the retirement of the former Secretary, Mr. Jianhai Lin.
This was contained in a press statement released by the Fund on Wednesday, July 15, 2020.
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According to Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the statement, “Ceda has outstanding institutional knowledge, strategic and intellectual heft, and people leadership. His unparalleled ability to bring people together, combined with his profound appreciation of the Fund’s institutional history and legal principles, as well as strong service orientation, will help the Fund to even more effectively serve our member countries in a very challenging economic environment” she disclosed.
Speaking further, Georgieva said ‘’Some of the key projects that he has worked on include the Fund’s enhanced policy to address governance and corruption issues, ensuring the adequacy of the Fund’s lending resources, reforms in lending policy such as the establishment of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT), reviews on surveillance policy and capacity development strategy and transparency, archives and communications policies’’ she added.
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Ogada joined the IMF’s Legal Department in 1999 and rose through the ranks to become Deputy General Counsel in 2014. During this time, he has worked on virtually all aspects of the Fund’s work, including advising on the governance of the Fund, on country operations, helping to develop Fund policies and implementation guidance, and providing technical assistance to member countries.
The new Secretary of the Fund was heavily involved in the work on euro area crisis countries during the global financial crisis. Recently, he has led the Legal Department in promoting good governance and transparency in several countries, together with the use of emergency financing for the COVID-19 crisis.
Before he joined the IMF, Mr. Ogada worked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as a legal expert and also before that he was in private legal practice in the United States. He holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in history from Dartmouth College. He is a Kenyan citizen.
