São Paulo – The French minister of Finance, Christine Lagarde, was elected on Tuesday (27), by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be the organisation’s new director general, starting on July 5th. She will be the first woman to head the organisation, established in 1944. Christine defeated the president of the Central Bank of Mexico, Agustín Carstens, and should head the organisation for five years.
The new director general choice process started on May 20, after the former director general, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, resigned. He left the post after being arrested on an aircraft minutes before flying from New York to Paris. He is accused of sexually abusing a hotel worker in the city in the United States. Christine, then, decided to compete.
She was chosen by the 24 members of the Executive Council, who represent the 187 IMF member countries. Between June 20th and 23rd, Christine and Carstens met with the councillors and with the executive directors of the institution to show their proposed actions ahead the IMF. At the end of these meetings, the members chose the French minister.
In a press statement, the IMF stated that both Christine and Carstens were qualified for the post and that the objective was to reach a consensus regarding the choice of one of them. "Based on the candidate profile that had been established, the Executive Board, after considering all relevant information on the candidacies, proceeded to select Ms. Lagarde by consensus. The Executive Board looks forward to Ms. Lagarde effectively leading the International Monetary Fund as its next Managing Director,” said the organisation.
Ever since she decided to run for the post, Christine started visiting countries that are members of the IMF, among them Brazil. She visited Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, on May 20. On Wednesday morning, little before Christine was announced as the next IMF director general, Mantega stated his support to the French candidate.
Christine was in the lead for the position, but some developing nations refused to support her as they desire emerging nations to have more space in the IMF’s decisions. The Mexican candidate had the support of Canada and Australia. Christine was favoured by Brazil, Egypt and China, although the government of Brazil only clearly showed support for her today. Ever since the beginning of the dispute for the post, she agreed to grant greater space to developing nations during her term.
The main demand of these nations is the end of an agreement practiced by North Americans and Europeans since the IMF and World Bank were created, prior to the end of World War II, in Bretton Woods. Since then, the main post in the World Bank is always occupied by a North American. The IMF, in turn, is led by a European. Emerging nations want this to change.
Before becoming the Finance minister of France, her post since 2007, Christine, aged 55, was the Minister of Trade of the European country. She operated as an anti-trust and labour lawyer and was a partner with international law firm Baker & McKenzie.
*Translated by Mark Ament
