Czech against French in contest for IMF job
Thursday, August 23, 2007
FORMER Czech central banker Josef Tosovsky has been nominated by Russia to head the International Monetary Fund, IMF board sources said on Tuesday, making him the second candidate proposed for the job.
According to a note circulated to IMF board members on Tuesday, Tosovsky "is willing to be considered as a candidate", the board sources said.
The Russian action pits Tosovsky against the European Union's choice of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, and creates a contest for the position with time running out for names to be put forward.
The selection process is to be completed by August 31, after which the IMF board will decide who gets the influential post to head the Washington-based global financial institution.
Developing countries, including Russia, have long argued that a decades-old convention of having the United States select the World Bank chief and Europe choose the head of the IMF was outdated and should be dropped in recognition of the growing might of emerging economies.
The IMF job came open in July after the sudden resignation of IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato, who was in the midst of reforming the 63-year-old fund.
The overhaul has focused on strengthening the way the IMF monitors the world economy and revamping its voting structures to better reflect the rise of economic powers like China.
Tosovsky, 57, is a Czech economist and was governor of the Czech National Bank from 1990 to 2000. He was close to former dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel, who chose him as a caretaker prime minister to overcome a crisis that toppled Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus in late 1997.
He is currently chairman of the Financial Stability Institute in Switzerland.
Reuters
According to a note circulated to IMF board members on Tuesday, Tosovsky "is willing to be considered as a candidate", the board sources said.
The Russian action pits Tosovsky against the European Union's choice of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, and creates a contest for the position with time running out for names to be put forward.
The selection process is to be completed by August 31, after which the IMF board will decide who gets the influential post to head the Washington-based global financial institution.
Developing countries, including Russia, have long argued that a decades-old convention of having the United States select the World Bank chief and Europe choose the head of the IMF was outdated and should be dropped in recognition of the growing might of emerging economies.
The IMF job came open in July after the sudden resignation of IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato, who was in the midst of reforming the 63-year-old fund.
The overhaul has focused on strengthening the way the IMF monitors the world economy and revamping its voting structures to better reflect the rise of economic powers like China.
Tosovsky, 57, is a Czech economist and was governor of the Czech National Bank from 1990 to 2000. He was close to former dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel, who chose him as a caretaker prime minister to overcome a crisis that toppled Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus in late 1997.
He is currently chairman of the Financial Stability Institute in Switzerland.
Reuters
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