MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IMF nominates Egyptian national Deputy Managing Director

Nemat Shafik, currently Permanent Secretary of the U.K. Department for International Development

Ms. Nemat Shafik, a national of Egypt and the UK has been nominated to the position of Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She will succeed Mr. Murilo Portugal, who resigned effective March 4, 2011.

Ms Shafik was the youngest ever Vice President of the World Bank, where she was responsible for a private sector and infrastructure portfolio of investments, and was part of the senior management team of the International Finance Corp.

She is currently Permanent Secretary of the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), leading the department responsible for managing the U.K. overseas development strategy and budget. Prior to serving the World Bank and DFID, she worked in Cairo and as a consultant on African economies.

In announcing his selection of Ms. Shafik, IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn said: “I am delighted to propose Nemat Shafik as the next Deputy Managing Director to succeed Murilo Portugal. A global citizen with a global reputation in fields ranging from emerging markets, international development, the Middle East and Africa, to the financial sector, Ms. Shafik brings to the Fund extensive experience in policy-making, management and academia.”

After graduating from high school in Alexandria, Egypt, and attending the American University in Cairo, Ms. Shafik, 48, earned degrees from the University of Massachusetts—Amherst and the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Economics from Oxford University. She is currently a member of the Middle East Advisory Group to the IMF. She has published widely, especially on the Middle East and North Africa, and has taught at the Wharton Business School and Georgetown University. She speaks Arabic, English and French.