Main focus of Thursday, May 26, 2011

Lagarde wants to head IMF

The French Minister of Economic Affairs, Finances and Industry, Christine Lagarde, announced her candidacy for the top job at the IMF on Wednesday. The press wants to see more candidates and calls for emerging economies to gain more influence over the Fund.

Emerging nations block their own path

Christine Lagarde remains the best candidate as long as the emerging economies fail to agree on who should head the IMF, writes the left-liberal daily Le Monde: "The Europeans should have asked the other member states the basic question: do you want a candidate who follows in the footsteps of Strauss-Kahn, who favours the renewal of state interventionism and a respect for social security to ensure the 'strong, durable and balanced' growth they long for? In that case, Christine Lagarde wonderfully embodies this European interventionism. Or do you want someone who favours ultra-liberal orthodoxy, budget equilibrium at all costs and widespread privatisation? In this case why not Agustín Carstens, the boss of the Bank of Mexico ... even if neither the Brazilians nor the Argentinians back him? If the emerging countries want the Fund to be directed by one of their own one day, they should get behind a single candidate and prepare him on the long term." (26/05/2011)

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All available articles from » Alain Faujas

Chinese should lead IMF

Europe is laying claim to the leadership of the IMF with the candidacy of the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde. But it's high time the Fund's Executive Committee had a Chinese member, writes the business paper Handelsblatt: "There are suitable candidates, above all Zhu Min, a former deputy governor of China's central bank, who was appointed a special advisor to the IMF by Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The future significance of the IMF depends on how well the dynamic regions of the global economy are integrated into its leadership. ... Since its markets were opened Asia has been catching up with the West at breakneck speed. China recently overtook Japan as the world's second largest economy, and it will outstrip the EU in four to five years. It's high time this development was also reflected in the IMF's committees and personnel policy." (26/05/2011)

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All available articles from » Peter Jungen

IMF leadership needs more competition

In the search for a new IMF chief the liberal-conservative business paper Financial Times would like to see more candidates for the post. The French contender Christine "Lagarde has been an excellent finance minister but her command of economics has not been sufficient to save Eurozone policymaking from avoidable mistakes. She is also parti pris: her rejection of a Eurozone sovereign restructuring yields to none. The IMF needs to assess the merit of Eurozone rescue programmes independently of what regional politics dictates. So everyone would benefit from a real contest, in which a second candidate gave Ms Lagarde a run for her money. She herself would gain authority from winning a proper race instead of being anointed." (26/05/2011)

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