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French Finance Minister Announces Candidacy for Top IMF Job

   VOA News  May 25, 2011
   France's Finance and Economy Minister Christine Lagarde is seen during
   the ringing of the opening bell at the Paris Euronext opening day .
   Momentum grew for Lagarde's potential candidacy to the top job at the
   IMF, May 24, 2011

Photo: AP

   French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has announced her candidacy
   for head of the International Monetary Fund, despite calls for the job
   to go to a non-European.
   Lagarde is considered a top contender for the post, which was vacated
   when Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned last week to fight sexual assault
   charges in New York City.
   Lagarde announced her candidacy in a news conference Wednesday.
   European Union leaders, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have
   made it clear that they want another European to stay in charge of the
   international lender at a time when it is helping Greece, Ireland and
   Portugal get out of debt.
   But major emerging economies have criticized Europe's decades-old grip
   on the top job at the IMF.
   Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa issued a joint statement
   Tuesday criticizing the international body for suggesting that its next
   leader must be another European.
   The directors of the five countries said in their first joint statement
   that the choice should be based on competence and not nationality. They
   called for abandoning what they termed the obsolete unwritten
   convention.
   The United States is expected to back the choice of a European,
   continuing a tradition that also allows an American to run the World
   Bank.
   The nomination period for the next IMF managing director opened Monday
   and ends June 10.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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