EU Must Agree on Lagarde’s IMF Replacement, French Official Says

(Bloomberg) -- European Union countries need to reach an agreement on a replacement for Christine Lagarde as head of the International Monetary Fund, a French finance ministry official said.

The IMF’s last 11 managing directors all came from Europe, including Lagarde of France. She is set to step down after this week being picked to become president of the European Central Bank once Mario Draghi leaves on Oct. 31.

The French government hasn’t decided whom it will support, the official said on Saturday at a conference in Aix-en-Provence in southern France. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday that he won’t seek the post.

EU governments are considering Bank of England Governor Mark Carney for the IMF job, said a person with knowledge of the discussions. While a Canadian by birth, Carney holds British and Irish passports, so his selection would technically preserve the seven-decade practice of a European running the Washington-based lender.

--With assistance from James Regan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angeline Benoit in Paris at abenoit4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at abdavis@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.