Mohsin S. Khan has been a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since March 2009. Before joining the Institute, he was the director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 to 2008. He first joined the IMF in 1972 as an economist in the Financial Studies Division of the Research Department, where he held senior positions including adviser, assistant director, and senior adviser. He also served as deputy director of the Research Department and became director of the IMF Institute in 1996. Other affiliations include visiting lecturer and research fellow at the London School of Economics (1975–76), adviser to the Central Bank of Venezuela (1976), and chief of the Macroeconomics Division of the Development Research Department at the World Bank (1985–86).

He has published widely on macroeconomic and monetary policies in developing countries, economic growth, international trade and finance, Islamic banking, and IMF programs. He is the editor or coeditor of Economic Development in South Asia (2005), Macroeconomic Management: Programs and Policies (2002), External Debt and Capital Flight in Sub-Saharan Africa (2000), Trade Reforms and Regional Integration in Africa (1998), Macroeconomic Models for Adjustment in Developing Countries (1991), Theoretical Studies in Islamic Banking and Finance (1987), and Growth-Oriented Adjustment Programs (1987). He has also published numerous articles in major economics journals. In 2003 he was awarded, jointly with A. Mirakhor, the Islamic Development Bank Prize in Islamic Economics for outstanding contributions to the field.

He received his PhD from the London School of Economics and holds an MA from Columbia University, a BSc in economics from the London School of Economics, and a BA from Punjab University.