IMF's Gita Gopinath meets Chanel CEO Leena Nair: ‘Only in Davos…’

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director chief Gita Gopinath, and Chanel CEO Leena Nair met each other at the ongoing annual meet of World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

Gita Gopinath, 52, born and raised in India, is the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Gita Gopinath has a PhD from Princeton University, and is known for her contributions to economics. She was the chief economist at the IMF from 2019 to 2022.

Meanwhile, Leena Nair, 54, a British citizen of Indian origin, had become the first female and youngest-ever chief human resources officer at consumer goods major Unilever. In 2021,  Leena Nair made history by becoming the global chief executive of the prestigious French luxury fashion house Chanel.

Gita Gopinath shared a picture captured at the WEF Davos meet and said, "Great to finally meet ⁦@LeenaNairHR⁩. Only in Davos does an economist run into a fashion mogul.”

Gita Gopinath has warned central banks need to move cautiously on cutting interest rates this year, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Gopinath told the FT in an interview that inflation is set to decelerate less sharply than it did last year because of tight labour markets and high services inflation in the US, euro area and elsewhere.

"Based on the data we have seen, we would expect rate cuts to be in the second half, not in the first half," Gopinath added.

Affirming that the fight against price rise is not yet over, IMF's Gita Gopinath said interest rates are likely to stay higher than during the period immediately after the global financial crisis.

There are expectations though that it will come down sometime this year, the International Monetary Fund's First Deputy Managing Director said.

"The markets are expecting central banks to cut rates pretty aggressively. I think that's a bit premature to make that conclusion.

"We should expect rates to come down some time this year but based on the data we see right now, we expect this to be more likely in the second half of this year," Gita Gopinath said.

Gita Gopinath also felt that chances of a deep recession were less likely.