Europe and Asia Set for Battle over Top IMF Post

[snagglepuss]

Source Dre Speigel

snip

The post is traditionally occupied by a European; a French national has run the IMF for 26 out of the past 33 years. But a power shift at the fund towards emerging nations could lead to a bitter dispute over the succession this time round, with analysts saying China may decide to flex its muscles to try to get an emerging market candidate into the job.

The distribution of power at the IMF still mirrors the old economic order. Among the 24 directors are nine Europeans and the vote of the US member counts four-fold. The Brazilian director represents nine countries and his vote has a weighting of just 2.4 percent.

For decades, the deal has been that a European runs the IMF and an American deputizes to him and gets the top job at the World Bank, which provides credit to developing countries.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,763036,00.html