IMF Chief Might Be from A Developing nation

IMF is taking in nominations for the next IMF chairman, would it make a difference if the IMF chairman was from a Developing Nation..or lets say ,African?

Former finance minister for South Africa Trevor Manuel has been mooted as a candidate for the position of IMF chief.

There is a strong battle for the seat !The four BRIC countries plus South Africa have joined forces to oppose the automatic choice of a European as head of the IMF.

This is significant step.For the first time there is a unified voice from the emerging world to match the voice of Europe, now rallying behind French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.From a gaggle of un-coordinated statements from emerging economies over the past two weeks, comes a crystal clear - and powerful - voice.

A message jointly signed by China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa. They wrote: "We believe that, if the Fund is to have credibility and legitimacy, its Managing Director should be selected after broad consultation with the membership. It should result in the most competent person being appointed as Managing Director, regardless of his or her nationality. We also believe that adequate representation of emerging market and developing members in the Fund's management is critical to its legitimacy and effectiveness."

 Quote: First fix your roads, infrastructure, power problems, petty criminals and then we can think of giving the job of giving the money to other countries...

Whereever there is a process of great change, there is a great resistance, with this (statement above) being the state of mind of the European heads, Will this succeed?...

In Hunt for the IMF job, people views...

Julian Borger in the The Guardian (22 May):

The challenge to European control of the IMF came in the form of a joint statement by Australia's treasurer, Wayne Swan, and South Africa's finance minister, Pravin Gordhan. "For too long, the IMF's legitimacy has been undermined by a convention to appoint its senior management on the basis of their nationality," it said. "In order to maintain trust, credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of its stakeholders, there must be an open and transparent selection process, which results in the most competent person being appointed as managing director, … regardless of their nationality." Swan and Gordhan are co-chairs of the G20's IMF Reform Working Group, and their statement reflect the claims of emerging powers, developing countries and champions of institutional reform that the post-war status quo by which Europe chose the head of the IMF and the US ran the World Bank, was no longer legitimate in a changing world half a century later. Switzerland also declared on Sunday it would not necessarily back a European for the managing director's job, and there were signs last night of a surge in support for South Africa's Manuel as an "outsider" candidate.