IMF Director Christine Lagarde on former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf : “As we embark on the CSR, we are proud to have access to the expertise of… eminent people”.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has named former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as a member on one of its external advisory groups on surveillance.

The group, of which former President Sirleaf is now a member, consists of economic, financial, and public policy experts whose role is to work on the IMF’s 2020 Comprehensive Surveillance Review (CSR).

The CSR, according to the IMF, is a periodic review which seeks to explore the IMF’s effectiveness in monitoring global economic developments and delivering policy advice to its 189 member countries.

The review, the IMF said will serve as a guide for its operational priorities through 2025.

“To accomplish this task, the CSR will take account of the strategic challenges and opportunities facing the IMF and its membership in ensuring sustained, balanced, and inclusive global growth,” IMF Managing Director Lagarde said in a press release posted on the IMF website.

Others are Gertrude Tumpel Gugerell, emerita consultant, Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO); Rodrigo Valdes, Chile’s former Finance Minister; and the Director of Bruegel, Guntram Wolff.

An IMF press release said the external advisory group on surveillance will serve as an independent check on staff analysis and will make recommendations that will be set out in the CSR.

 The release added that the group’s independent views will be communicated to the IMF Executive Board, which will ultimately establish the fund’s surveillance priorities.

Director Christine Lagarde added: “As we embark on the CSR, we are proud to have access to the expertise of two groups of eminent people. The first such group consists of thought leaders who will provide overall guidance on surveillance challenges facing the Fund and help us chart the course for new policy approaches to enhance economic prosperity and maintain global economic stability.

“And because the CSR will position the Fund’s surveillance function against the backdrop of the ongoing global technological transformation, we hope to richly benefit from leading thinkers and practitioners with experience in revolutionary industries in our second advisory group.”