The German finance ministry believes the next chief of the International Monetary Fund should come from Europe and emerging countries should provide successors in the long term, a spokesman said on Thursday.
Emerging economies challenged Europe's grip on the leadership of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday as pressure mounted for the fund's jailed managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn to quit.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, 55, is the first woman to head the IMF.
A medal-winning member of France's synchronized swimming team as a teenager and the first female chairman of US law firm Baker MacKenzie, Lagarde won respect in the markets during the global financial crisis and helped promote France's negotiating clout in key forms like the Group of 20.
A flawless English speaker, Lagarde was voted best finance minister in Europe by the Financial Times in 2009.
France's finance minister is set to declare on Wednesday she wants to be the next head of the IMF.
Emerging economies should have a say in who should take the helm of the International Monetary Fund, but overhauling the global agency is more important than the succession issue, an adviser to the People's Bank of China said on Tuesday.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde's candidacy for IMF chief gained momentum in Europe on Sunday while Mexico put forward its own candidate, ensuring competition for the top job.
Switzerland will support the best candidate for the top job at the International Monetary Fund and will not necessarily back a European, the Alpine state's top official at the global lender told a paper on Sunday.
Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Saturday he supported ASEAN economists to be the next managing director of International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The speculation about whether a Chinese candidate could step forward as the chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been picking up steam across China after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest.
France's Christine Lagarde announced her candidacy for the presidency of the International Monetary Fund, amid calls from the five major emerging economies for an end to the tradition that a European chairs the IMF.
Mexico's central bank chief Agustin Carstens launched his bid to lead the International Monetary Fund, urging developing nations to back a single candidate who can "take the battle to the Europeans."