Speaker 1: The most important lesson I learned in my life is
Speaker 1: very simple. Change for the better is unstoppable. It may
Speaker 1: take time, it may take struggle, but it will come.
Speaker 1: And that relentless pursuit of betterment of people it is
Speaker 1: worth doing because change is unstoppable. That was Crystalina Gergiova,
Speaker 1: who has the International Monetary Fund. Her optimism should give
Speaker 1: hope to all of us because the i m F
Speaker 1: has enormous impact. It's been called the chief steward of
Speaker 1: the world's monetary system and the world's financial firefighter. Without
Speaker 1: its help during the COVID crisis, some countries economies would
Speaker 1: have collapsed. I'm Alian Ververe and this is Seneca's on
Speaker 1: women to hear. We are bringing you one hundred of
Speaker 1: the world's most inspiring and history making women you need
Speaker 1: to hear. Born and raised in Bulgaria, Krystallina Givgiova has
Speaker 1: held some of the most important jobs in the world.
Speaker 1: Before taking the helm at the i m F as
Speaker 1: Managing Director, she was CEO of the World Bank, and
Speaker 1: earlier she helped shape the agenda of the European Union
Speaker 1: while serving as a European Commissioner. Listen and learn why
Speaker 1: Krystallina Gergiova is one of Seneca's one hundred Women to hear.
Speaker 1: I'm just so thrilled to be here today with the
Speaker 1: Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Krystallina ger of
Speaker 1: She is a friend who have had the great privilege
Speaker 1: to work with on occasion, and it is just simply
Speaker 1: wonderful to be able to introduce her to our listeners today.
Speaker 1: So let me begin, Crystalina by saying that you have
Speaker 1: been in some of the most important positions, heading them
Speaker 1: up both regionally and in global organizations. The European Commission,
Speaker 1: the CEO of the World Bank, You've led humanitarian and
Speaker 1: environmental efforts on a global scale, and since October of
Speaker 1: two thousand and nineteen, you've led the i m F,
Speaker 1: where you oversee some trillion dollars in loans, only the
Speaker 1: second woman to lead the i m F, succeeding Christine Legarde,
Speaker 1: and I think it would be good at the outset
Speaker 1: if you could tell our audience what the i m
Speaker 1: F does. Let me first thank you very much for
Speaker 1: the chance to engage with your audience and for the
Speaker 1: great work you do to promote gender equality. The IMF
Speaker 1: is an organization of a hundred and ninety members, and
Speaker 1: what it does is to provide support two countries when
Speaker 1: they are in trouble. In that sense, we are the
Speaker 1: world's first responder during financial and economic crisis. It is
Speaker 1: also the organization that keeps a hand on the pulse
Speaker 1: of the world economy and the most authoritative source of
Speaker 1: data and analysis of how well is the world economy doing.
Speaker 1: We have three big lines of work. First, surveyors, we
Speaker 1: survey individual countries and the world economy. Second, program support
Speaker 1: We finance countries that need balance of payment injection of
Speaker 1: financial means. And third, we help countries build strong institutions
Speaker 1: so they can cope with the problems they face. Very
Speaker 1: interesting fun fact, during the pandemic in twenty we got
Speaker 1: our newest member, the small country of Andorra joined And
Speaker 1: the reason I'm bringing it up is because it is
Speaker 1: such a good indication how important is for the world
Speaker 1: for us to be together in good and bad times. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that's an excellent point, and I think your
Speaker 1: explanation is very well received. And I wondered, since you
Speaker 1: mentioned the PA endemic, there must be tremendous pressure on
Speaker 1: the I m F now because of the severe economic downturn.
Speaker 1: Of course, there is We were established in the midst
Speaker 1: of the Second World War by wise leaders who who
Speaker 1: decided that to build pieces stability there had to be
Speaker 1: institutions that are responsible for the vibrancy of the world economy.
Speaker 1: The meth and the World Bank were created. Then we
Speaker 1: have never had in our seventy six years of history
Speaker 1: anything as profound as the crisis of last year. And
Speaker 1: this it is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,
Speaker 1: and it is a crisis like no other because for
Speaker 1: the first time, the whole world is impacted, and we
Speaker 1: call sious lee put our economies instant. Still, we stopped producing,
Speaker 1: we stopped consuming. That has translated, of course, in tremendous pain.
Speaker 1: While the pandemic is a a source of pain, but
Speaker 1: also the economic consequences because so many people lost their
Speaker 1: jobs and their livelihoods as a result. And for us
Speaker 1: that d m F, what it meant was two very
Speaker 1: rapidly scale up financial assistance. And I'm very proud to
Speaker 1: say we have never done so much so fast. We
Speaker 1: have provided provided financial lifelines to eighty three countries, eighty
Speaker 1: three of our members, and among them nearly fifty are
Speaker 1: low income countries. Without the financing from the IMMF, they
Speaker 1: virtually would have faced a economic collapse. People would have
Speaker 1: been dying just because of lack of money. That's such
Speaker 1: important work that the I m F does, and it's
Speaker 1: so crystal Claire in a moment like this, why it
Speaker 1: matters so much? You know, you had talked about the
Speaker 1: severity of what you've been through. Eighty three countries already
Speaker 1: desperately needing support at this moment, But we are barely
Speaker 1: into a year of the pandemic, and we know that
Speaker 1: there's still probably months and months and months, uh and
Speaker 1: a lot of it going to be felt in the
Speaker 1: emerging world of conditions that will continue to be exacerbated.
Speaker 1: Is that something that puts a great deal of additional
Speaker 1: pressure on you just thinking about that? Oh, yes, definitely,
Speaker 1: that's uh uh. Let me first say that, fortunately we
Speaker 1: got last year a big reinforcement of our lending capacity
Speaker 1: and our concessional lending capacity, in other words, ability to
Speaker 1: help poor countries. We have we can up to one
Speaker 1: trillion dollars. So far, we have extended two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty billions of lending, over a hundred billions just this
Speaker 1: last months, so we have capacity to land and we
Speaker 1: are working very hard to further extend our concessional capacity
Speaker 1: ability to help the poorest countries. What we see ahead
Speaker 1: in this year one are three very big priorities. One
Speaker 1: of course, to bring the health crisis to an end,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately it is not happening so easily because the
Speaker 1: race between the virus and the vaccine UH is hitting
Speaker 1: up with more variations of the virus coming up, and
Speaker 1: it is a race that that is very uneven. The
Speaker 1: advanced economies have better capacity, stronger health systems, more many
Speaker 1: more fiscal space as we call it, to vaccinate their people.
Speaker 1: Low income countries are faced with a tremendous difficulty and
Speaker 1: we are loud and clear in our message that vaccination
Speaker 1: has to happen everywhere for everyone. In fact, if we
Speaker 1: vaccinate poor countries quickly, the world economy as a whole
Speaker 1: will benefit because growth going cup will also translate into
Speaker 1: better economic opportunities for the richal world. We calculated that
Speaker 1: we can get five trillion dollars in the next to
Speaker 1: three years just by accelerating vaccination and finishing it on time,
Speaker 1: and up to nine trillion by twenty five more for
Speaker 1: the world to share would go to the poor countries
Speaker 1: of this benefit is for the for the richal world.
Speaker 1: So our message to to advanced economies to reach the
Speaker 1: countries is it is in your self interest to help
Speaker 1: everybody UH complete that mass vaccination we are going forward. UH. Secondly,
Speaker 1: it is very important that policy support for vulnerable people
Speaker 1: and vulnerable parts of the economy continuous. Why because we
Speaker 1: are not yet at full speed, and we will not
Speaker 1: be at full speed for quite some time. So what
Speaker 1: is being discussed in UH, For example, in the United States,
Speaker 1: should there be an additional stimulus? The answer from the
Speaker 1: I m F is yes, we need to continue with
Speaker 1: that support UH and then look at how we can
Speaker 1: re energize growth in a way that helps us to
Speaker 1: make the turn towards the new climate economy, to support
Speaker 1: growth that is low carbon and climate resilient, and to
Speaker 1: accelerate digitalization for everyone. Because one thing the FUND is worried,
Speaker 1: I'm worried, is that this crisis is exacerbating inequalities. UM
Speaker 1: who is hit the hardest, low skilled workers, women, young people,
Speaker 1: and so we want to see that being an objective
Speaker 1: to to arrest and reverse inequality. And last but not
Speaker 1: least to do it. Also between rich and poor countries.
Speaker 1: What we see today is a very dangerous strength of
Speaker 1: divergence between the rich and the poor world if we
Speaker 1: don't arrest it. Not only this is devastating for people
Speaker 1: in poor countries, but it would undermine security and stability
Speaker 1: for everyone. So a lot to do in one I'm
Speaker 1: optimistic that this crisis has awakened in across the world
Speaker 1: a sense of what priorities must be, that we ought
Speaker 1: to work for a world that is that is green,
Speaker 1: and that is inclusive and equitable. She made so many
Speaker 1: really important points, and what you just said, and this
Speaker 1: message about we're all in this together, and if we
Speaker 1: get everyone vaccinated in the United States, that's not enough.
Speaker 1: Everybody's got to be vaccinated, and economic growth and the
Speaker 1: betterment of each and every one of us has nched
Speaker 1: on it. So all the best to you and to
Speaker 1: the I m F, and to all of us that
Speaker 1: we do our part to really be part of this
Speaker 1: great cooperative effort that has to be undertaken. Thank you
Speaker 1: for raising all of those points and for injecting climate
Speaker 1: into this discussion as well, because we know that is
Speaker 1: a crisis that we are still to confront and its enormity.
Speaker 1: Let me turn to something that I have personally witnessed
Speaker 1: about you, and that's your strong commitment to gender parity.
Speaker 1: And I know and I watched as you took over
Speaker 1: the helm of the i m F. You have said
Speaker 1: under your leadership at the i m F that you
Speaker 1: would have a relentless focus on gender equality. Tell us
Speaker 1: why that's important to countries, why it's important to economies.
Speaker 1: It is a crucially important for a very simple reason.
Speaker 1: We all benefit when when women are in hoo did h.
Speaker 1: In my former job at the World Bank, we asked
Speaker 1: the question how much more we would get as a
Speaker 1: world as well if we wake up tomorrow with gender
Speaker 1: equality everywhere? And the answer is staggering over lifetime of people,
Speaker 1: we would get a hundred and seventy two thrillion dollars
Speaker 1: more for the whole world only if we manage to
Speaker 1: bring gender parity everywhere. At the Fund, our job is
Speaker 1: to help economies ride well they want unless they overcome
Speaker 1: the obstacles for women to participate in the labor market,
Speaker 1: to have ownership of facets, to be included in the
Speaker 1: finance financial system, and to be on each and every
Speaker 1: one of the parameters of inclusion equal to men. And
Speaker 1: I'm very proud to be the second woman. Very grateful
Speaker 1: to Christine Legarde. She broke the glass ceiling, so when
Speaker 1: I came no cuts, I can just walk. It's so done, uh,
Speaker 1: And I take it to heart that I will relentlessly
Speaker 1: pursue that objective. We are a strong institution and we
Speaker 1: have to use this strength for good. Excellent. You know,
Speaker 1: I endorse every word that you uttered, howheartedly, senecas one
Speaker 1: hundred women to hear. Will be back after the short break.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that glass ceiling. Here you are the head
Speaker 1: of the International Monetary Fund. Christine Legarde has gone on
Speaker 1: to become the President of the European Central Bank, and
Speaker 1: if approved, Janet Yellen will become the United States Secretary
Speaker 1: of the Treasury. So what do you think this means
Speaker 1: to have three extraordinary women overseeing such vast sectors of
Speaker 1: the world's economy. And maybe you could add to your answer,
Speaker 1: what do you think women bring to the practice of
Speaker 1: the economy, Because we really rarely talk about women and
Speaker 1: economics and the same breath. What I see is the
Speaker 1: world come into its sense. He's recognizing that giving more
Speaker 1: authority and responsibility of two women benefits everyone. I'm so
Speaker 1: excited that somebody is so professional, so experienced, and so
Speaker 1: dedicated to the public goods, like Janet Yellen is going
Speaker 1: to be heading the Treasury Department in the United States.
Speaker 1: What is important to recognize is that not only tapping
Speaker 1: into the potential knowledge and skills of women is just
Speaker 1: doing a simple economics. You have a reservoir of talent
Speaker 1: and productivity that is underutilized. You bring it on board.
Speaker 1: This matters. What matters even more is that women bring
Speaker 1: different perspective, They have different ideas there. They tend to
Speaker 1: be more inclusive, they tend to be more willing to
Speaker 1: find space for compromise. Uh. And those are skills that
Speaker 1: are so very critical in a fast moving world because
Speaker 1: when changes happening so rapidly, you have to have agility
Speaker 1: and ability to find this space for for compromise and inclusion.
Speaker 1: And therefore women contribute tremendously in that regard. From my
Speaker 1: own experience, I also have seen women being so tremendously responsive.
Speaker 1: So you give a compliment to a woman, how does
Speaker 1: she take it? The bar has gone up. I have
Speaker 1: to do even better, and that is so powerful in
Speaker 1: organizations and in in countries and companies to constantly strive
Speaker 1: to do better, which which I am. I am confident
Speaker 1: women bring up. I want to tell you my favorite
Speaker 1: favorite saying is of Eleanor Roosevelt, very appropriate for the
Speaker 1: crisis we are in. She said women are like e back,
Speaker 1: We don't know how strong we are until you put
Speaker 1: the same hot water. And that is my last point.
Speaker 1: Women are we are now in hot water. And you
Speaker 1: see countries led by women, organizations led by women, they
Speaker 1: do wow, because boy, we're strong. Now. That's a really
Speaker 1: good point, and I must tell you it is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite sayings as well, because you know, I
Speaker 1: worked with Hillary Clinton when she was first Lady, and
Speaker 1: there was a lot of hot water that was often
Speaker 1: created that one had to somehow overcome when it's put
Speaker 1: in your path. But there's a lot of troubles today
Speaker 1: that have to obviously be overcome and dealt with. And
Speaker 1: to have all of these wonderful strong leaders like yourself
Speaker 1: is really gratifying. You've had a very fascinating family history,
Speaker 1: So let's talk about Crystalalina just a little bit. Your
Speaker 1: great grandfather was a nineteenth century revolutionary, considered to be
Speaker 1: one of the founding fathers of Bulgaria. You grew up
Speaker 1: on the other side of the Iron Curtain, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think the Communists took over Bulgaria in what was
Speaker 1: that n or somewhere around then. So you've had these
Speaker 1: deep experiences in the formative part of your life in
Speaker 1: many ways. So could you tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about your childhood and growing up and how that perhaps
Speaker 1: contributed to your being the extraordinary leader you are today.
Speaker 1: I was very fortunate to grow up in a loving family.
Speaker 1: My mother and my father never treated my brother and
Speaker 1: me differently, So I grew up with this sense that
Speaker 1: we are equal, and that was very helpful in my
Speaker 1: in my life. But I also have gone through a
Speaker 1: tremendous a struggle first um, getting the wall of restricting
Speaker 1: my opinion to be spoken, and having this many many occasions.
Speaker 1: I was a professor, I would teach, I would go
Speaker 1: home and I know I crossed the line in the
Speaker 1: kind of in the communist ideology, and I would worry
Speaker 1: about it, and every so often I would actually slap slightly,
Speaker 1: you know, slapped on the on on the hand. But
Speaker 1: it gave me that strength that we ought to be
Speaker 1: always um pursuing with integrity what we believe in. But
Speaker 1: the most important part of my life that prepared me
Speaker 1: to lead the many many years later, was my country
Speaker 1: went through through tremendous economic collapse after the collapse of communism.
Speaker 1: Our economy went barely up. We had hyper inflation shon
Speaker 1: and my mother lost her life long savings virtually within
Speaker 1: two days. I had to get up at four o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning to queue to buy milk for my daughter.
Speaker 1: So I saw first hand the damage of bad policies.
Speaker 1: But I also saw, and it was with the help
Speaker 1: of the IMF, how a country can turn a course
Speaker 1: for the better and bring the benefits of good policies.
Speaker 1: The most important lesson I learned in my life is
Speaker 1: very simple. Change for the better is unstoppable. It may
Speaker 1: take time, it may take struggle, but it will come.
Speaker 1: And that relentless pursuit of betterment of people, of communities
Speaker 1: and countries, the pursuit of a more prosper us, an
Speaker 1: inclusive world, it is worth doing because change is unstoppable.
Speaker 1: And I see now in this crisis, and I can
Speaker 1: tell you I worry tremendously about reversals on gender equality
Speaker 1: very very serious threat. Women are hit disproportionately by COVID
Speaker 1: because many of them, many more than men, are in
Speaker 1: the contact dependent sectors. They're losing their jobs in big numbers.
Speaker 1: Many women in developing countries are in the informal economy,
Speaker 1: so help cannot easily reach out to these women because
Speaker 1: when a job cuts start, women are the first to go,
Speaker 1: and we see it in unemployment numbers. Because the crisis
Speaker 1: has also unleashed some of the bet phenomenon we have,
Speaker 1: like violence against women, and it is hugely important that
Speaker 1: especially women like me in position of authority, to be
Speaker 1: loud and clear that reversal ought to be stopped and
Speaker 1: we have to pursue equality in all aspects and gender
Speaker 1: equality we weren't there to begin with. We cannot afford
Speaker 1: to sleep backwards. Look, on average, a woman in this
Speaker 1: world has only three quarter of the legal rights of
Speaker 1: a man. This is where we are going. Backwards means
Speaker 1: that we are going to make not only women short
Speaker 1: of reaching their full potential, but countries, communities, families poorer
Speaker 1: as a result. That to stop, well, and how important
Speaker 1: your experience, your personal experiences. You know, as you were
Speaker 1: talking about going out to to get milk for your
Speaker 1: daughter in a time of severe economic downturn. To have
Speaker 1: had that personal experience and now be in the position
Speaker 1: that you're in in in managing the I m F.
Speaker 1: It's an extraordinary story. And I think it says a
Speaker 1: great deal about the empathy and understanding and compassion along
Speaker 1: with the great economic background, uh, and perspective and experience
Speaker 1: you've had. These joined together to make you be who
Speaker 1: you are and where you are at this place, at
Speaker 1: this moment in our history. So I just have one
Speaker 1: minute left. Uh. I mean maybe we heard it in
Speaker 1: your answer, but what makes you, at this very difficult
Speaker 1: time the ragmatic optimists that you say that you are.
Speaker 1: What makes me an optimist is that historic friend. We
Speaker 1: have all experience, we go through tough times, but we
Speaker 1: are so resilient and so inventive that we can overcome
Speaker 1: these difficulties. The history of my country, the history of
Speaker 1: my family, it is all history of setbacks and then
Speaker 1: perseveres success coming out of it. And also the fact
Speaker 1: that I look around and I see so much alignment
Speaker 1: of people who recognize in this crisis that we do
Speaker 1: need to help each other, We need to support each
Speaker 1: other and we can overcome. Just look at the speed
Speaker 1: with which vaccines have arrived. My I want to finish
Speaker 1: on the source of my optimism, uh and it is
Speaker 1: having seen multiple times in the worst of crisis, how
Speaker 1: the best of people comes through, how people are the
Speaker 1: first responders to shocks like hurricanes, h fires, disasters of
Speaker 1: any kind. But here is the problem. Hate is very loud,
Speaker 1: Goodness is very quiet, and our job, all of us,
Speaker 1: the pragmatic optimists of this planet, is to amplify these
Speaker 1: voices of goodness and make sure we all understand it.
Speaker 1: This is the power we possess and we must deploy
Speaker 1: in all we do. Thank you so much those voices
Speaker 1: of goodness and the appeal to that. It is the
Speaker 1: message for now, for sure. So, Crystalina Gargiova, it is
Speaker 1: a pleasure to have had this conversation with you today.
Speaker 1: You've not only made us so much smarter, but you've
Speaker 1: inspired us. And I know I speak for many when
Speaker 1: I say that, So thank you so so much, and
Speaker 1: all the best to you in the extraordinarily challenging job
Speaker 1: that you have. Thank you, thank you very much. Talking
Speaker 1: with Krystalina Gergiova gives me such hope for the future.
Speaker 1: Here are three things I took away from that conversation. First,
Speaker 1: the world is starting to recognize the importance of bringing
Speaker 1: women into every level of leadership. Government and institutions clearly
Speaker 1: benefit from women's perspective, and women's skill at affecting compromise
Speaker 1: and inclusion are critical at this moment in history. Second,
Speaker 1: women's economic equality is the key to global progress, and
Speaker 1: that means removing obstacles that keep women from participating as
Speaker 1: full equals in the labor market and financial systems. Achieving
Speaker 1: that goal could add a hundred and seventy two trillion
Speaker 1: to the world's economy. Finally, in order to move past
Speaker 1: the current crisis, we all need to be pragmatic optimists.
Speaker 1: We need to look around and see the good that
Speaker 1: has been accomplished by people working together, and then we
Speaker 1: need to amplify and add to those acts of good.
Speaker 1: As Crystallina says, this is the power we all possess. Yeah,
Speaker 1: tune in next Thursday to hear about our next featured
Speaker 1: woman and discover why she's one of Seneca's one Women
Speaker 1: to Gear. Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear is a
Speaker 1: collaboration between the Seneca Women Podcast Network, and I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: with support from founding partner PNG, have a great day.