IMF contest widens By Stephen Fidler in Washington and Gillian Tett in Tokyo
The contest to find a new managing director for the International Monetary Fund was thrown open on Wednesday as two non-Europeans were nominated to head the organisation.
The nominations were viewed as a sign of growing frustration among other IMF member governments at the delays surrounding European efforts to find a successor to Michel Camdessus, who stepped down from the fund earlier this month.
Stanley Fischer, the African-born American who is the current interim head of the organisation, was nominated by 20 sub-Sahara African countries, while the Japanese government nominated Eisuke Sakakibara, a former vice-minister for international affairs at Japan's Ministry of Finance.
The head of the fund has traditionally been in the gift of the main European powers, while the US has provided the head of the World Bank, its sister organisation. But the only declared European candidate, Caio Koch-Weser, a senior German finance minister who served for more than two decades at the World Bank, has found it difficult to secure widespread European support.
German officials have said his name will go forward from a meeting of European Union finance ministers early next week, but doubts about whether he will command support among other IMF member governments have been voiced until recently by French and some other European officials.
A senior US administration official said yesterday the US had not endorsed any candidate. "We think it's important there be a strong candidate with stature and credibility and who can command a broad consensus of support, including among emerging economies."
Among emerging economies, only China has so far publicly come out in favour of Mr Koch-Weser.
However, the nomination of Mr Fischer would probably be opposed by European governments, who fear US domination of the IMF. Partly for this reason, the US Treasury has not pushed Mr Fischer's name forward.
Mr Fischer's name was put forward at an informal IMF board meeting by Jose Pedro de Morais, from Angola, representing 20 African countries. He said: "The former managing director made his request 115 days ago. His distinguished term came to an end over a week ago and we have now entered a period of uncertainty and instability, which we could all well do without."
Japanese officials insist that even if Mr Sakakibara's application is rejected this time, it could help promote more transparency in the selection process in future.