The race for who succeed Christine Lagarde as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund is becoming quite interesting as five candidates have signified interest for the job.
Recall that Lagarde who became the Managing Director of IMF in 2011 and reelected in 2016 for another five year term was recently nominated to succeed Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank and will leave the IMF on Sept. 12.
Among the leading candidates contesting for the jobs are former Dutch finance minister and Euro group head, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Former EU commissioner, Olli Rehn of Finland, is also on the list.
Other names include, Spanish Economy Minister, Nadia Calvino, Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who is currently head of the Eurogroup, and also the former EU commission vice president, Kristalina Georgieva from Bulgaria.
French Economy Minister, Bruno le Maire has been coordinating the European search with the goal of agreeing on a single candidate with wide ranging experience in international finance by the end of July.
The Washington-based IMF is traditionally led by a European while its sister institution the World Bank is led by an American, but emerging countries have challenged this unwritten rule.
“The IMF must end its practice of appointing only European managing directors, just as the World Bank must start considering non-US citizens,” Jose Antonio Ocampo, a Colombian central bank board member and former finance minister, wrote earlier this month.