February 3, 2020

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced on Monday that Poul Thomsen , European Department Director, will retire at the end of July.

Mr. Thomsen, a national of Denmark, has spent the bulk of his 37-year Fund career working on European countries in various senior positions in Washington and as the Fund’s representative in Russia. Prior to taking up his position as head of the European Department in November 2014, he had primary responsibility for the Fund’s programs with European countries affected by the global financial crisis and the subsequent crisis in the Euro Zone.

“Poul has worked closely with all 44 countries in Europe and played a particularly important role in providing needed policy advice and guidance to the many countries that transitioned to market-based economies following the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Ms. Georgieva said.

As head of the European Department, Mr. Thomsen has led the Fund’s bilateral surveillance work, its policy dialogue with EU institutions, including the ECB, and its program discussions with European countries with Fund-supported programs.

“Poul is known as a tough-minded and principled negotiator, and he has always had the long-term wellbeing of the people of the member countries we serve squarely as the focus of his efforts,” Ms. Georgieva said.