Europe select Kristalina Georgieva for IMF top job
The Bulgarian chief executive of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva, has been selected as Europe’s choice to become the IMF’s managing director following a day of voting.
Georgieva narrowly beat former chair of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and is now favourite for the role.
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No other candidates have been nominated from other large emerging economies.
The IMF is usually led by a European, while the World Bank is headed by an American, under a convenition with the US.
Sweden and Netherlands attempted to contest the vote result, claiming Georgieva failed to meet complex thresholds set out under EU weighted-voting rules.
Georgieva won 56 per cent of the vote from the bloc’s 28 member states, according to the Financial Times, but failed to meet the 65 per cent population criterion.
However, Dijsselbloem conceded defeat after a two hour conference call on Friday night.
“I congratulate Kristalina Georgieva with the outcome of today’s European votes. I wish her the utmost success”, Dijsselbloem tweeted.
Meanwhile, Georgieva is set to take a leave of absence from her role at the World Bank during the IMF nomination process, which is due to be concluded by 4 October.
“It is an honor to be nominated as a candidate for the role of managing director of the IMF. After consulting with the chief ethics officer, I have requested administrative leave and will relinquish my responsibilities as WorldBank CEO for the nomination period,” she tweeted.
France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, who led negotiations for the EU, welcomed the “excellent news”.
“Since every candidate was highly qualified, it was clear that the selection process had to be pursued in greater depth,” he said.
“Kristalina Georgieva is now the candidate of the European countries, and we will support her fully. Ms Georgieva has all the skills needed as well as the experience and international credibility to succeed to Christine Lagarde and to lead the IMF successfully.”
The process of deciding the next IMF candidate was a controversial one, with finance ministers conducting a “secret vote” via email.
It came after weeks of discussion that did not result in a unanimous decision.
Read more: Mark Carney misses cut for IMF top job shortlist
The UK objected to the process altogether and did not put forward a nominee as well as abstaining from the voting process.
Should Georgieva be appointed, she would be the first eastern European to take charge of the Fund.