An economist with a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ilan Goldfajn has been president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) since January 2023 and is the first Brazilian to head the institution. Previously, in 2022, he was director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the most important departments of the organization. Goldfajn was president of the Central Bank of Brazil between 2016 and 2019. During his tenure, the central bank continued to fight inflation, which had reached 10.67% in the midst of the economic crisis under the presidency of Dilma Rousseff. Monetary tightening was successful, and the inflation rate fell to 2.95% in 2017, below target, and remained at 3% and 4% in the following years. The key interest rate fell from 14.25% to 6.5% in the period. He also promoted regulatory reforms to foster greater competitiveness in the financial sector, paving the way for the entry of new competitors, such as digital banks and payment companies. It was also during his tenure that the Central Bank began working on the development of Pix, an instant payment system launched in 2020 that has become one of the main transfer methods in Brazil. Born in Haifa (Israel), he immigrated with his family to Brazil at the age of 13. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and a bachelor’s degree in the same field from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
