France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the top job at the IMF should go to a European candidate, reiterating the decades-old convention for one of the most sought after jobs in international finance.
All of the 11 heads in the IMF’s 73-year history have stemmed from Europe, with a US citizen managing the World Bank in return. Asked if it would be possible to have a non-European candidate for the managing director of the IMF, Mr Le Maire said: “No. I am a European, so I think that it is in the interests of Europe to keep the leadership at the IMF.”
Mr Le Maire spoke to the Financial Times in an interview on the sidelines of the Rencontres Économiques gathering of economists, politicians and business leaders in Aix-en-Provence.