Lagarde may become first female IMF chief
May 19, 2011
May 19 (Bloomberg) — France may have to rely on Christine Lagarde’s track record as a euro crisis fighter if she’s to become the International Monetary Fund’s first female chief after the resignation of her compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Lagarde, 55, has the negotiating skills and an understanding of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis needed for the post, say analysts including Charles Grant at the Centre for European Reform. IMF shareholders will assess if those qualities are enough to allow France to keep the job for itself after securing four out of the 10 managing directors since 1946.
“We should choose the best candidate, whether European, Antarctican or Uruguayan,” said Grant, executive director of the London-based research group. “The French have a record of strong candidates and the obvious one now would be Lagarde.”
The next IMF chief will be at the center of debates on determining a course for the euro region out of the sovereign debt crisis that still threatens to push the likes of Greece, Ireland and Portugal into default. Strauss-Kahn’s successor will also have to restore the Washington-based fund’s image after the former French finance minister was forced to quit today after being charged with attempted rape and other offenses in New York.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, finance minister from June 1997 to November 1999, was arrested May 14 on sexual-assault charges and is currently detained at Rikers Island prison in New York. He denies the allegations.
