He was born on 2 November 1888, in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Otto Rooth and his wife Ellen Hertzman. He graduated from Uppsala University with a Candidate of Law degree in 1911. In his early career he was: Solicitor for the Handelsbank of Stockholm ; head of Bank's Commercial Credit Department ; Assistant Manager and Solicitor of Stockholm Mortgage Bank for several years; Governor of the Central Bank of Sweden ; Director of the Bank of International Settlements. In 1951 he headed a mission to Iraq for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and on April 10 of the same year he was appointed Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the IMF, assuming his duties on 3 August 1951. Rooth, in his first address to member countries as Managing Director of the IMF on 11 September 1951, stated that the Fund "sought removal or modification of exchange restrictions and other discriminatory practices" aimed at a freer flow of international trade and payments. Subsequently, general policy on use of IMF's resources was set forth. This initiated the IMF's policy of drawings in tranches. In 1952, in accordance with the Articles of Agreement, 5 years after the IMF began financial operations, annual consultations with members maintaining exchange restrictions under Article XIV were initiated. The IMF introduced a general framework for Stand-by Arrangements, and the criteria to be applied were standardized. Rooth's term as Managing Director of the IMF ended on 27 April 1956, but he accepted a request by the Executive Board to serve a further period ending on 3 October 1956. Rooth was head of the Investment Committee of the United NationsPension Fund from 1947 to 1961, and he was also head of the Currency Board in Kuwait from 1960 to 1962. After 1962 he stepped down and lived at Lidingö, Sweden, and occasionally wrote and gave lectures on economic affairs.
Personal life
In 1914, he married Ingrid Lundgren, the daughter of Bengt Lundgren and Eva Wennerström. In 1931, he married Ingrid Söderlindh, the daughter of Gunnar Söderlindh and Gertrud Lindroth. He had four children, including physician Gösta Rooth. Rooth died in Sweden on 27 February 1972.
