Global General

France's Lagarde set to launch IMF bid

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-25 14:30

France's Finance and Economy Minister Christine Lagarde is followed by members of the media after attending a G20 Globalisation conference in Paris May 23, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON/PARIS - France's finance minister is set to declare on Wednesday she wants to be the next head of the IMF.

Diplomatic sources said Lagarde plans to formally announce her candidacy on Wednesday.

In a joint statement issued by Brizil, Russia, India, China and South Africa or BRICs, they called for "abandoning the obsolete unwritten convention that requires that the head of the IMF be necessarily from Europe."

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Mexico has nominated its central bank chief for the job and he said some countries had welcomed his decision to run. South Africa and Kazakhstan may put forward their own candidates.  

Following Strauss-Kahn's resignation, Europe has made clear it wants to stay in charge of the multilateral lender at a time when it is helping to bail out Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

"It's a European consensus," Francois Baroin, France's budget minister and government spokesman, told Europe 1 radio.

"The euro needs our attention. We need to have the Europeans (on board), the Chinese support the candidacy of Christine Lagarde," he said.

Mexico's central bank chief, Agustin Carstens, told Reuters the United States welcomed his participation in the race for the IMF job but was neutral on whether to support his candidacy.

"They welcomed that I was participating and they thought it was an important part of the process," Carstens said.

Brazil seemed reluctant to back Carstens, with government sources saying he is seen as a long shot for the job.

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel may also be a candidate to run the IMF, and Russia has said it would back Kazakhstan's central bank chief, Grigory Marchenko.

Judges are due to rule on June 10 whether to launch an inquiry into the matter.

The race for the IMF's top job was set off by the departure of Strauss-Kahn, who is under house arrest in New York. He denies the sexual assault charges and his wife has stood by him.