Lagarde to push ahead with IMF reforms
Christine Lagarde, the newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has vowed to reform the institution’s governance and employment in her tenure as leader.
In just the second day in her new role, the former French minister for the economy said the global recovery from the financial crisis was uneven as emerging markets such as China and India powered ahead of slow-growing European countries. .
Reflecting demands from emerging markets to have their nations represented at the top of the IMF, a power struggle seen in the IMF leadership race, Lagarde told a news conference the IMF needed to better reflect the global shift to developing countries.
She said the idea of creating a top-ranking post at the IMF to give a higher profile to emerging markets was “not a bad idea” and said the institution should complete reforms agreed to in 2010 to give developing countries more power.
“The world is going to continue to change,” she said. “We have these tectonic plates that are moving at the moment, and that needs to be reflected in the composition of governance and employment at the Fund.”
However, Lagarde’s appointment still continues the tradition that a European heads the IMF.
“But that should also reflect in our employment policies, in our training policies, in the way in which we build teams, in the way in which we organize recruitment so that people are not clones of each other,” Lagarde said.
Lagarde faces an array of issues and she acknowledged that among the most pressing was dealing with a European debt crisis that has required bailouts for Ireland, Portugal and Greece.
She confirmed that the IMF board would meet on Friday to consider a disbursement of funds for Greece.