MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rato, new IMF Managing Director

Rodrigo Rato, the former Spanish Finance Minister will be confirmed this Tuesday as the new Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.

The support of the European Union and the United States will be decisive for Mr. Rato's appointment. He will be replacing Horst Kohler who resigned to become the leading candidate for the German presidency.

The other official candidate is Mohamed El-Eiran a former senior member of the IMF.

On the eve of the voting Mr. Koehler asked for bold changes in the IMF Board voting system giving emerging markets and low income countries a bigger say since "they no longer reflect their true weight in the world economy".

Mr. Koehler mentioned specifically the European Union that holds ten chairs in the IMF Board giving it control over more than a third of votes, while non European countries that do not belong to the Group of Seven Industrialized countries command a third of the votes. United States commands 17,4% of votes in the Board.

Mr. Rato in an informal interview with the IMF Board said that he regards the IMF primarily as a political institution, with technical analysis taking second place.

The IMF Board voting process is to hold two secret votes which will indicate the support of both candidates, and then the definitive official ballot which should give time for a unanimous appointment.

Mr. Rato once appointed is expected to take up the post in June.