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European finance ministers will hold a call on Thursday to discuss who should take over the top job at the International Monetary Fund. The discord over who they should put forward could threaten the continent’s claim on the post.
EU governments have so far failed to rally behind a single candidate to replace Christine Lagarde atop the Washington-based IMF and the frustration is palpable across capitals.
A first round of talks led by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who is coordinating the search, tested the support for five candidates: Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino, Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno, former Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, World Bank Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva and Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn.
Although some have gathered more backing than others, there isn’t yet full consensus around one name, said a French official, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. The fund said in a statement last week that its application process will close Sept. 6. The board intends to complete the process by Oct. 4.
The top vacancy comes after Lagarde resigned this month to lead the European Central Bank. The IMF’s next leader will confront a world economy at its weakest since the aftermath of the financial crisis. Last week, the fund further reduced its global growth outlook, already the lowest since 2009, to a projected 3.2% expansion this year.
Under a half-century-old agreement, the head of the IMF is a European while the U.S. picks the World Bank chief. That tradition prevailed when David Malpass was selected as the World Bank’s president in April. But Europeans are uncertain whether President Donald Trump’s administration will return the favor -- and emerging markets have been arguing for years that the current arrangement doesn’t reflect a world that’s since evolved.
