People: Former RBI governor appointed to IMF

Urjit Patel, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has been appointed as an executive director of the International Monetary Fund. Patel, who headed the RBI from 2016 until 2018, will serve a three-year term in his new role.

The Bank of England has appointed Stephen Blyth, a mathematician and principal of Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford, as an external member of its financial policy committee. He replaces Colette Bowe, whose two-year term came to an end in August. Randall Kroszner, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, has been reappointed as an external member of the committee for a second term.

The UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer has appointed Minouche Shafik, a former deputy governor at the BoE, as his chief economic adviser. Shafik’s previous roles include deputy governor of the International Monetary Fund. In August 2024, Shafik resigned as president of Columbia University in New York following criticism of her handling of campus protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Elton John has teamed up with the World Gold Council to make Touched By Gold, a documentary about his relationship with the precious metal. In a trailer posted online on September 3, the singer-songwriter says gold is “the most wondrous mineral in the world, and it’s been such an important part of my life”.