Guillermo Le Fort Varela is a National of Chile. He Holds a Ph.D. (1985) and a MA (1981) in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Magister (1980) and Licenciado (1977) degrees in economics from Universidad de Chile (UCH). Presently Mr. Le Fort is a consultant in Economic and Financial Matters based in Santiago, directing Le Fort Economía y Finanzas LE&F, and Professor of Macroeconomics at the Universidad de Chile. He is Board member and Advisor of the Investment Committee of Corp Seguros SA, member of the Technical Investment Committee of the Pension and Unemployment Insurance Funds, and participates in the Macroeconomic Advisory Committee for the Ministry of Finance.
Among the clients base of LE&F are international organizations, public institutions in Chile and abroad and private financial institutions and firms Among the projects recently developed are the monthly Macroeconomic and Financial Outlook for Chile, Country Risk Evaluations for Latin American Countries, stress-test models for the effects of macroeconomic volatility on the credit, financial and liquidity risks of financial institutions, estimations on the sustainability conditions for public debt under macroeconomic uncertainty, studies on the preconditions and design of structural fiscal policies in Latinamerican countries, an analysis of Chile’s Structural Fiscal Policy, and a study on the effects of mergers in Chile’s radio industry.
Mr. Le Fort was Executive Director at the IMF (2000-2004) representing the Southern Cone Countries, Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the IMF Executive Board and Member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Latin American Studies at the George Washington University. He was Director of International Affairs for the Central Bank of Chile, member of the Governor’s Advisory Team in Macroeconomic and Financial Policy Matters (1995-2000), and Deputy Director of Research at the Central Bank (1992-1995). At the time, he was also member of the Working Group on Capital Flows of the Financial Stability Forum, Consultant to the IMF, and Central Bank Representative in the Anti-Trade Distortion Commission and at the Board of the Chilean Copper Commission. Earlier in his career Mr. Le Fort was Staff Member of the IMF (1986-1992), Resident Representative of the IMF in Uruguay (1990-1992); Assistant Professor of Economics UCH (1983-1985), Teaching and Research Assistant UCLA (1980-1983), Research Assistant and Economics Lecturer UCH (1976-1980).
Mr. Le Fort has taught at different academic centers including George Washington University, the IMF Institute, UCH, UCLA, Universidad Finis Terrae, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez and Universidad Alberto Hurtado. He has published several articles and contributions to books in international macroeconomics and finance, including the resiliency to external shocks in Chile; Reforming the International Financial Architecture; The Real Exchange Rate and the Capital Account; The Unremunerated Reserve Requirements to Capital Flows; The Current Account and the trend Terms of Trade; Macroeconomic Performance of Chilean Governments; Monetary Policy and the Real Exchange Rate; Fiscal Policy and the Cycle; Financial Crisis and Structural Weaknesses of the Financial System; Relative Prices, Absorption and Exchange Rate Policy.
Email: GLEFORTV@leyf.cl. Address: Rosario Norte 530, Of. 1304, Las Condes, Santiago CHILE.
