Several names are being floated around as possible replacements for International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing criminal raps in the United States and may be forced to resign because of the scandal, according to IMF insiders.
>> IMF Leadership in Limbo as Managing Director Faces Criminal Raps
Among these is John Lipsky, the fund’s first deputy managing director who is currently serving as its acting managing director. Lipsky, however, has announced his intention to retire when his current term expires in November.
Other names that have emerged as possible replacements for Strauss-Kahn include:
Christine Lagarde, France’s minister for economy, finance and industry. She is widely regarded as the top candidate to replace Strauss-Kahn. Three of the last five IMF directors are French, and this maybe a setback for Lagarde should she run for the position. The minister is also being investigated for alleged improper use of office to settle a long-drawn-out legal battle between French businessman Bernard Tapie and the Credit Lyonnais bank.
Gordon Brown, senior adviser to the World Economic Forum and former U.K. prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, however, has rejected the idea of Brown as a future IMF chief.
Axel Alfred Weber, former president of Deutsche Bundesbank, which is Germany’s central bank, and currently an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was formerly said to be a top candidate to head the European Central Bank.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India’s planning commission. He has held various high-level IMF positions, including as director of the fund’s independent evaluation office. He is also a former finance secretary, economic affairs secretary and economic adviser of the Indian government.
Angel Gurria, current secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Mohamed el-Erian, CEO and chief investment officer of the Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco, the world’s largest mutual fund. He also spent 15 years at IMF early in his career.
Stanley Fischer, Bank of Israel’s governor and former vice chairman of Citigroup. He was IMF’s first deputy managing director between 1994 and 2001.
Agustín Carstens, governor of the Bank of Mexico and a former deputy managing director of IMF. He is also a former deputy secretary of finance for the Mexican government.
Shri Sridhar, chairman and managing director of the Central Bank of India.
Trevor Manuel, head of South Africa’s National Planning Commission. He was the country’s finance minister from 1996 to 2009.
Kemal Dervis, former economic minister of Turkey and former United Nations Development Program administrator.
Peer Steinbrück, former German finance minister and a member of the country’s Social Democratic Party.
Marek Belka, governor of Poland’s central bank.
Foreign Policy has also listed some possible IMF chief candidates from Asia.
>> David Bosco: Potential IMF Chief Successors From Asia
The list notably includes a number of non-Europeans, feeding a growing debate on whether or not the IMF top post should still be given to someone from Europe. The IMF chief has traditionally been European in the same way that the World Bank president has always been a U.S. citizen.
Those who argue that the next IMF chief should still be from Europe note that the fund’s biggest undertaking at present is addressing the financial crisis in Europe, and this would require an IMF leader that knows the region’s politics and trusted by its officials.
This argument, however, is rejected as invalid by experts who are proposing that IMF look beyond Europe and possibly to the developing world in its search for a new leader.
>> IMF’s Crisis-Management Challenge
Meantime, the Bretton Woods Project, which positions itself as a watchdog of IMF and the World Ban, is pushing for a transparent and professional selection process for the next IMF managing director. The group and its partners have recently launched a website dedicated to tracking the hunt for a new leader of the fund.
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