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Imf seeks chief as kohler is put up for german presidency Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=040305001174&query=imf+seeks+new+chief&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Formhttp://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=040305001174&query=imf+seeks+new+chief&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Form
FRONT PAGE - FIRST SECTION: IMF seeks chief as Köhler is put up for German presidency
By Andrew Balls in New York, Bertrand Benoit in Berlin and Ed,Crooks in London
Financial Times; Mar 05, 2004
The International Monetary Fund found itself looking for a new boss yesterday after Horst Köhler, the managing director, was put forward as Germany's next head of state.
The unexpected vacancy for one of international finance's top jobs is the result of Germany's main opposition parties choosing Mr Köhler as their candidate to succeed Johannes Rau in the largely ceremonial role of president in May.
Mr Köhler said he was deeply honoured. "I accepted this nomination with a laughing and a crying eye, as we say in German." In accordance with IMF rules, the resignation is immediate.
The leading contenders to replace him at the IMF are Jean Lemierre, head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Rodrigo Rato, the Spanish finance minister.
Mr Lemierre, also a former director of the French Treasury, is seen as having done a good job as head of the London-based EBRD. Mr Rato is an experienced finance minister who is respected within the IMF.
The new managing director will be formally selected by the IMF board, which is dominated by the Group of Seven leading industrial countries. Traditionally, the IMF managing director is a European while the US appoints the president of the World Bank. There was controversy in 2000 when the US blocked Caio Koch-Weser, the German candidate.
Gordon Brown, the chancellor, was seen as a potential candidate for the job in 2000 but is now an unlikely choice, given his domestic political ambitions.
Other possible candidates include Giuliano Amato, former Italian prime minister and finance minister, and Stanley Fischer, former first deputy managing director of the IMF.
Mr Köhler has led the IMF at a time when the fund has been under considerable pressure from its critics. There have been failures in Argentina but also successes in Brazil and Turkey. His departure comes on the eve of the deadline for Argentina's $3bn (£1.6bn) loan repayment to the fund and the second review of the loans programme. Anne Krueger, first deputy managing director, will lead the IMF on an interim basis.
In Germany, the main opposition parties - the centre-right Christian Democratic Union; its Bavarian sister wing, the Christian Social Union; and the liberal Free Democratic party - announced their decision at a joint conference in Berlin.
The negotiations were marked by disagreement between the three parties, which have a 21-vote majority in the federal assembly that will vote on a successor to the outgoing Social Democratic president.
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