WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund plans to select a new leader to replace Christine Lagarde at the global crisis lender by Oct 4, the IMF board announced on Friday. That would mean a new managing director will be in place in time for the IMF annual meeting in mid-October.
Lagarde resigned her post effective Sept 12 as she awaits final word on her nomination to the presidency of the European Central Bank.
The IMF board confirmed a commitment to “an open, merit-based, and transparent process for the selection of the next managing director,” the institution is widely expected to continue the 75-year tradition of picking a European to lead the fund, while an American has always led the IMF’s sister institution, the World Bank.
Any of the fund’s 189 members can nominate a candidate from July 29 to Sept 6, after which the board will announce its shortlist of up to three names, the IMF said in a statement. EU leaders early this month picked Lagarde to succeed ECB chief Mario Draghi, whose single, eight-year term ends in November.
Lagarde immediately stepped away from the IMF leadership post she has held since 2011, sparking a wave of speculation about who would replace her.
