IMF board to meet to discuss selection process for new chief
Saturday, 14 July 2007
WASHINGTON, July 13 (AFP): The International Monetary Fund's executive board will meet Thursday to discuss the selection process for a successor to managing director Rodrigo Rato, a spokesman said.
The board has committed to holding an "open and transparent" procedure to select a candidate from any of the Fund's 185 member countries, IMF spokesman David Hawley said at a news briefing.
Hawley said the board is expected to meet around lunchtime to continue its discussion begun Monday on the selection process.
By an unwritten agreement, Europe selects the managing director of the IMF, while the United States chooses the head of the World Bank, its sister institution.
That tradition, established with the Bretton Woods institutions after World War II, has come under increasing criticism, particularly from emerging countries which say they deserve a greater say in the bodies' governance.
On Tuesday, the European Union appeared to back France's candidate, former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, to succeed Rato.
Rato announced late last month that he would step down for personal reasons in late October, two years before the Spaniard's mandate is to expire.
Asked whether a candidate has been proposed to the board, the IMF spokesman replied: "I'm not aware a candidate has been presented to the board."
Hawley quoted a statement by the board issued Monday after its meeting saying the directors would ensure a process "consistent with the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy."
The strategy, agreed in April 2006, called for an open and transparent selection process, he recalled.
The board has committed to holding an "open and transparent" procedure to select a candidate from any of the Fund's 185 member countries, IMF spokesman David Hawley said at a news briefing.
Hawley said the board is expected to meet around lunchtime to continue its discussion begun Monday on the selection process.
By an unwritten agreement, Europe selects the managing director of the IMF, while the United States chooses the head of the World Bank, its sister institution.
That tradition, established with the Bretton Woods institutions after World War II, has come under increasing criticism, particularly from emerging countries which say they deserve a greater say in the bodies' governance.
On Tuesday, the European Union appeared to back France's candidate, former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, to succeed Rato.
Rato announced late last month that he would step down for personal reasons in late October, two years before the Spaniard's mandate is to expire.
Asked whether a candidate has been proposed to the board, the IMF spokesman replied: "I'm not aware a candidate has been presented to the board."
Hawley quoted a statement by the board issued Monday after its meeting saying the directors would ensure a process "consistent with the Fund's Medium-Term Strategy."
The strategy, agreed in April 2006, called for an open and transparent selection process, he recalled.