IMF Executive Board selects Christine Lagarde as Managing Director

IMF Executive Board selects Christine Lagarde as Managing Director

2011-06-29 02:47:56 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board on Tuesday selected Christine Lagarde as Managing Director and Madame Chairman of the Executive Board.

Lagarde is the first woman named to head the IMF since its inception in 1944. She will succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last month days after his arrest in New York over allegations of sexual assault.

The 24-member Executive Board selected Lagarde ahead of Agustin Carstens, current Mexican Central Bank chief, and thus ending the selection process initiated on May 20 and without having to recur to a formal voting.

Based on the candidate profile and all the relevant information, the 24 members representing the IMF's 187 member countries selected Lagarde by consensus. The decision came hours after the U.S. and Russia voiced their support to her candidacy.

Lagarde, 55, has been France's Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment since 2007. She will be the IMF Managing Director starting on July 5 and her term will last five years.

The newly-selected IMF chief has had an extensive and noteworthy career as an anti-trust and labor lawyer until 2005 when she was named to her initial ministerial post in France as Minister for Foreign Trade.

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