ASEAN calls for Asia to provide next IMF chief

May 28, 2011 | 17:50

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ASEAN Secretary General, Surin Pitsuwan, has called on Asian countries to jointly nominate a candidate for the post of managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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“Now is the time for Asia to field a candidate and it doesn't have to be an Asian. They could be a member of a third world country – but not the European Union – and they surely must not be a North American,” Surin said at the “Future of Asia” conference in Tokyo .

Surin was quoted by the Bangkok Post on May 27 as saying that Asia, as the leading engine of global economic growth, needed to voice opinions about the way international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF operated and assert its claim to the position now.

"If we don't do anything we will be taken for a ride and next time we will be overlooked," he added.

Developing countries now represented about 42 per cent of the contributions to the IMF compared with the nearly 30 per cent Europe and the US each contributed, Surin said.

The same day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said that the chief of the IMF should be chosen through democratic consultation with a merit-based and transparent selection process.

The selection should also seek to increase the presence of emerging markets and better reflect changes in the global economic layout, Jiang said.

On May 25, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde launched her bid to head the IMF.

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