Belgian finance minister eyes IMF job

BRUSSELS: Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders on Sunday threw his hat into the ring for the top IMF job, while acknowledging that his French counterpart Christine Lagarde was Europe's favourite.

Asked by a journalist on public television RTBF whether he was interested in the post, Reynders replied: "But of course, these are the kind of jobs one could not refuse."

"When, like me, you have sat around the table at the International Monetary Fund for 12 years, and have experience as finance minister, of course it would be an interesting job, a job where one could have an impact on economics and politics," he said.

But he acknowledged that Lagarde was currently considered the front-runner by the European Union for the job, and that her candidacy also enjoyed important support from Germany.

An EU source said Friday that Lagarde was "practically a shoo-in" despite being dogged by a French judicial probe into allegations of abuse of power.

Under a long-standing arrangement between Europe and the United States, a European has always held the top IMF job while an American leads its sister institution, the World Bank.

While emerging powers China and Brazil are calling for an end to the arrangement to give an opportunity to a candidate from a developing nation, there has been no agreement on any particular individual.

The EU is expected to announce its candidate at the Group of Eight summit in Deauville, France, late this week.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011