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China may get senior IMF job

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-07-07 14:44

Zhu Min [File photo]

WASHINGTON - China is close to clinching a top-level post at the International Monetary Fund, IMF sources said on Wednesday after the Fund's new chief pledged to give more power to emerging economies.

They said Zhu Min, a Chinese national who was a special adviser to former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was expected to fill a new deputy managing director post to be created by the Fund's new chief, Christine Lagarde.

"Zhu Min is expected to be named to deputy managing director," an IMF board member told Reuters. The appointment, which would give China one of the top five management jobs at the Fund, would first need the approval of the 24-member IMF board of member countries.

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Lagarde on Wednesday vowed during her first news conference as managing director to give developing nations a greater role in the fund. She said she was considering creating a new high-level job that would be filled by a candidate from an emerging market country.

The move should appeal to emerging and developing markets, which have demanded a greater say in the international financial institution to reflect their growing economic clout.

China, the world's second-largest economy, has pressed for a senior-level position but was blocked by Japan's long-held lock on another deputy managing director post, currently held by Naoyuki Shinohara.

Zhu is a former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China.

His appointment would give Asia two senior management posts in the IMF plus the chair of the IMF's top advisory committee, which was recently filled by Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

The deputy managing directors often chair board discussions on lending decisions when the managing director is absent.

The IMF's No 2 job is also set to open up with the departure at the end of August of American John Lipsky, the Fund's first deputy managing director.