MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil insists with an emerging economy Managing Director for the IMF

Former Brazilian Foreign minister Celso Amorim

Brazil’s former Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim said that the next IMF Managing Director must come from an emerging economy if Dominique Strauss-Kahn, currently in custody in New York on alleged rape charges finally looses his job.

“I don’t think the IMF or the World Bank can continue to be monopolies of United States and Europe”, said the former official from the Lula da Silva administration during a conference in New York.

“If the next IMF Managing Director were to be chosen from an emerging country it would be much better since it would show the organization is more representative and sensitive to world changes, and that is very important”, said Amorim.

Strauss Kahn was arrested last Saturday at John F Kennedy airport when he was twelve minutes from taking off time for Paris and has been formally accused on rape and other violence charges against a woman employee from the Sofitel where he was staying.

Because of the incident the IMF ‘number two’ John Lipsky has become acting managing director while speculation is rife on possible names to succeed the French director.

“It is clear that there are good candidates both in the US and in Europe but there are also very good candidates outside that circle, why not the change?” asked Amorim who said “this monopoly has no meaning nowadays since the percentages of global GDP have changed dramatically”.

Anyway whoever is chosen to succeed Mr Strauss-Kahn if he finally abandons the post, “the person chosen as IMF Managing Director must be adequate”, said Amorim pointing out that “there are people in the emerging countries that don’t even understand what rich countries think, and I don’t believe that kind of people would be the best”.

Since the reconstruction following World War two, the World Bank president job has been filled by the United States which supplied all the funds. The chair of the IMF which had a more auditing job when created over sixty years ago has always gone to a European.