France’s Lagarde named for second term to lead IMF

France’s Christine Lagarde, who battled financial fires across Europe as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was officially named Friday to a new term at the global emergency lender.

But with the world economy slowing, and a number of emerging economies plunging into crisis, Lagarde’s second five years are not likely to be any quieter than her first term.

Greece and Ukraine, two of the Fund’s largest liabilities, remain on the precipice, and new challenges are cropping up as a consequence of China’s slowdown and the global commodities collapse, war in the Middle East, and fears of return to recession in developed countries.

The former French finance minister, 60, was unopposed for the position, and approved “by consensus” by the IMF executive board.

It keeps her in charge of the institution’s staff of 2,600 and more than $1 trillion in resources to be used to support struggling countries and, when needed, rescue them and shepherd them through often difficult reforms.

That process is politically fraught and, as in the case of Greece, which is still struggling to get on its feet six years after its first financial rescue programme, the focus of huge policy debates among the world’s top politicians, bankers and economists.

“In taking this decision, the board praised Ms Lagarde’s strong and wise leadership during her first term,” said Aleksei Mozhin, the dean of the board.

Lagarde arrived at the IMF in 2011 tasked with restoring the reputation of its leadership following her predecessor Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned under the cloud of a sex scandal early that year.

Photo: straitstimes.com