Wednesday, June 29, 2011 » 07:29am
BIGPOND NEWS
France's Christine Lagarde has been appointed as the first-ever female chief of the IMF.
The French finance minister, widely respected for her leadership during Europe's financial crisis over the past three years, was chosen to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned abruptly on May 18 after being arrested in New York for the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid.
Lagarde said she was 'honoured and delighted' by her nomination.
'I am honoured and delighted that the board has entrusted me with the position of MD (managing director) of the IMF!' Lagarde said on the Twitter online message service.
In a statement, the IMF said: 'The executive board of the International Monetary Fund today selected Christine Lagarde to serve as IMF managing director and madame chairman of the executive board for a five-year term starting on July 5, 2011.'
Lagarde, the IMF said, was 'the first woman named to the top IMF post since the institution's inception in 1944'.
Lagarde, the French minister of finance since June 2007, was up against Mexico's Agustin Carstens.
The 24-member board called both Lagarde and Carstens 'well-qualified candidates' and that it decided on Lagarde 'by consensus'.
Lagarde won the job on the back of her successful record as finance minister and also because of her deep inside understanding of the eurozone crisis, which initially will be the new IMF chief's principal challenge.
She played on her international stature and also sought to broaden it during a whirlwind, marathon charm offensive in recent weeks when she criss-crossed the globe to argue why a European and French national should continue to head the fund.
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