Could a Briton run the IMF?
Daniel Korski 12:18pm
With Dominique Strauss-Kahn, known as DSK, undertaking scientific and forensic tests to
determine if he sexually assaulted a hotel maid, the International Monetary Fund will be run by its No. 2 official, John Lipsky. A former banker, Lipsky was appointed “first” deputy
managing director in 2006, and was expected to step down later in the year.
But the change at the top will bring the former Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development, Minouche Shafik, into the limelight. She recently left London to take up a post as deputy managing director at the IMF; she will now take Strauss-Kahn’s place at a meeting with Europe’s finance ministers in Brussels today to consider further aid to Greece and work through details of an IMF-backed bailout of Portugal.
Meanwhile, the task of picking a new IMF head will likely gather pace. By tradition, the post goes to a European when an American heads the World Bank. German central bank boss Axel Weber, who has just stepped down, may be an obvious choice – though Germany held the IMF post before DSK. If Nicolas Sarkozy insists on keeping a Frenchman on the job, perhaps outgoing ECB chairman Jean-Claude Trichet might be ideal. His term expires in October, though it may not be smart to move him out of the ECB right now. Another French option might be finance minister, Christine Lagarde. But she is one of France's most popular right-wing politicians, probably crucial to President Sarkozy's bid for re-election.
In addition, both BRIC and developing countries have complained about this unofficial division of the spoils between the US and Europe. Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega told the IMF's board in April: "It is high time that we make a political breakthrough in departing from the out-dated practice." Prime Minister David Cameron has himself previously said an Indian or Chinese could be the next IMF chief. One such BRIC candidate could be former Turkish finance minister Kemal Dervis, whose name has been circulated in recent months.
But could Dr Shafik, who holds US, UK and Egyptian nationality, be the ideal permanent replacement, someone who can represent the old powers and the emerging ones? Having blocked Gordon Brown's bid to run the IMF earlier in the year, it would be a nice coup for David Cameron to land a Briton in the top job. And her appointment would make her the first female head of the institution.
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strapworld
May 16th, 2011 12:45pm Report this commentHow can anyone hold three nationalities? It really is ridiculous. Talk about a three way bet.
Can anyone hold as many 'nationalities' as you wish?
Perry
May 16th, 2011 12:52pm Report this commentIs it perfectly obvious who will be next in line for the IMF, - non other than the Economically Illiterate Giant who ran the UK finances for the 13 years before he was ousted last year.
Tailor made for the job, and follows a prediction I made long ago.
As one of our fellow writers put it, 'Sh*t floats'
Michael
May 16th, 2011 1:11pm Report this commentAnyone, as long as it's not Brown. Or Blair. Or Darling. Or...
daniel maris
May 16th, 2011 1:14pm Report this commentThree nationalities? Agreed - an absolute absurdity, especially at this level.
And the fact that the Spectator seems to find it unremarkable speaks volumes in itself.
Anyway, it's clearly time for a BRIC representative.
boulay
May 16th, 2011 1:30pm Report this commenti don't understand how Dr Shafik who holds the three nationalities can really be considered british.
and as for "If Nicolas Sarkozy insists on keeping a Frenchman on the job" why should he be allowed to insist such a thing, they have had their turn and now it should rotate as planned.
i seem to recall that whilst we ended up with Ashton of the EU foreign service, Sarkozy got his choice of plum roles in the EU for frenchies so it is even more reason to ignore any insisting he might do....
AAE
May 16th, 2011 1:35pm Report this commentIsn't nationality immaterial to socialists anyway?
No, contrary to what they'd have us believe, they operate not at a supra-national level, but on a me, me, me first principle.
SteveC
May 16th, 2011 1:40pm Report this commentPop an "I" into the word and there is a sterling candidate for the job. Gordon is still quiet!
Duyfken
May 16th, 2011 1:43pm Report this commentIf we are grasping at straws, as Mr Korski seems to be doing, how about the chap, Peter Costello, who saved Australia from following the path taken by so many others, Brown & co, to insolvency?
StrongholdBarricades
May 16th, 2011 1:45pm Report this commentAnyone note the irony of a socialist being pulled from the 1st class compartment of an airplane after recently vacating a "very luxurious suite" in a grand hotel?
Since much of the criticism of the IMF has come from the Far East and Africa, surely it should be one of those nations that gets to head up the organisation and "put it right".
CuttingEdge
May 16th, 2011 1:47pm Report this commentActually, Gordon Brown would be the ideal candidate from a British perspective. No one else is eminently capable of wreaking the necessary havoc on the rest of the world's economies so as to raise the standard of our own in comparison (to theirs) to the level it was at before he became Chancellor...
Richard47
May 16th, 2011 1:56pm Report this commentAmen to Costello. Or Roger Douglas from New Zealand or Paul Martin from Canada.
Three men who know how to deliver the goods while being financially prudent.
Oh no - now I've said it. The 'P' word. We'll get Gordon!
Chris lancashire
May 16th, 2011 1:58pm Report this commentCould it be as simple as selecting the most able person for the job regardless of nationality?
EC
May 16th, 2011 2:00pm Report this commentThe Daily Mash
I would show hotel maids my slides, pledges Brown
http://bit.ly/lSlFeG
Axstane
May 16th, 2011 2:33pm Report this commentIf Brown got the job the institution really would deserve the title "I Make Foul-ups".
Also, enough of the French deciding that this post belongs to them. And certainly we don't want this tri-national woman in charge despite the fact that she has worked for every large governmental organisation at giving money away including our own DfID.
On the other hand why should we care? International finance has become a joke based on fiction based on elaborate conjuring tricks. The voter now owns little in most countries except a share of huge debt.
Mark Cannon
May 16th, 2011 2:56pm Report this commentThe best choice would be John Redwood - no PR/touchy feely politics, just sound economic sense.
Onlooker
May 16th, 2011 3:32pm Report this commentSeems to me that the multi-nationality Shafik is a dyed in the wool Arab-American socialist who was processed by LSE and Oxford. Well versed in giving money away she is a shoo-in for globally spraying more and more cash at the 'deserving poor' of this world.
She's no Brit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minouche_Shafik
Hexhamgeezer
May 16th, 2011 3:36pm Report this commentRe the triple nationality issue, I was under the impression that the US didnt allow dual nationality. Was this changed in recent years? We do of course enabling thousands of the flakiest sods on the planet to use us as a flag of convenience.
Verity
May 16th, 2011 3:51pm Report this commentI vote for a Chinese! Europeans have proved themselves to be no good.
tankus
May 16th, 2011 5:53pm Report this commentNice touch not letting Khan shave and no tie at his £1m bail rejection ......
Suggestions he has access to "unknown and unquantifiable" money to front bail , so it should not be given.
No doubt the prosecution will have the full co operation of Sarkozy's government.
Cynic
May 16th, 2011 6:27pm Report this comment@Chris lancashire "Could it be as simple as selecting the most able person for the job regardless of nationality?" What a bizarre notion, Chris! It would not be "fair" (or give the "right" result). What you need is to choose from an exclusive short list of all those who tick the right PC socialist boxes.
I echo the sentiments of those incredulous that somebody should have three nationalities including "UK". No (wo)man can serve three masters.
I almost wish El Gordo would get it - that would soon reduce the IMF to bankruptcy! - but no doubt we, the long-suffering taxpayer, would end up footing the bill if he did, just as we did when he was Chancellor and PM.
John Montague
May 17th, 2011 6:42pm Report this comment@Onlooker
A socialist said this?
Well, I think the experience with privatization is very compelling and clear. We got the economics right. Virtually every major study of the impact of privatization that's been done in the last two decades has shown that there have been huge efficiency gains from privatization. Where we failed was on the politics, which was neglecting who won and who lost; who got those benefits and how they were distributed in society. And I think much of the backlash against privatization is driven not by the failure of privatization to deliver on the economic front, but the failure of privatization to really treat the political consequences effectively.
And this?
the older approach of having state-owned enterprises and relying on them was really not working. And most countries, to differing degrees, were literally hemorrhaging money, [because] these state-owned enterprises were so inefficient, and many countries just could no longer afford it anymore, and that includes countries ranging from the UK, who first approached the privatization of British Telecom because they needed to invest more in telecommunications and they just couldn't support it under the [existing] budget. And the same problem occurred in Tanzania and in most of the transition economies. They just couldn't afford the inefficiencies of state-owned enterprise, so that's why we saw so much privatization.
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