ECB’s Coeure Says He’s Not a Candidate for Leadership of IMF

(Bloomberg) -- One of the European Central Bank’s top policy makers ruled out himself out of the contest to take over the International Monetary Fund.

Benoit Coeure, 50, whose term in Frankfurt finishes at the end of the year, said Monday that he’s “not a candidate for the IMF.” His name has been touted as a possible successor to Christine Lagarde, who will replace Mario Draghi as ECB president this autumn.

“My specialty is Europe, so I’d rather remain in Europe and continue to serve Europe; we’ll see how but there are different ways of doing it,” Coeure told BFM Business Radio in France. “There are all sort of good candidates” for the IMF.

The fund’s previous 11 managing directors all came from Europe, including Lagarde from France. European governments are actively discussing nominating Bank of England Governor Mark Carney as the next head, a person familiar with the matter said last week.

Spani’s economy minister, Nadia Calvino, said on Monday that European leaders intend to maintain the status quo and ensure that the next IMF head is once again European. It is “premature” to discus names of potential candidates, she said before a meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Brussels.

Coeure added that Lagarde is a “very good choice” for the ECB. “She has a perfect understanding of how the global economy works and so how the euro zone works. She know how talk to financial markets; she know the institutional working of the euro area so she’ll be able to do it very, very well.”

Turning to monetary policy, Coeure said with inflation below the ECB’s goal, the region needs accommodative policy.

“It’s all the more necessary today as we have a slowdown in global activity, we have global risks that are significant -- that aren’t linked to Europe, which are linked to trade tensions that were created by different countries which affects confidence -- so in this environment we need an accommodative monetary policy more than ever,” he said. “We are ready to react if new negative downside risks materialize.”

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