Emerging markets ready to lead IMF: China researcher

BEIJING: Emerging market officials are capable of leading the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a Chinese government researcher said on Friday in an opinion piece that chided the IMF for its "outdated" order dominated by the US and Europe.

Yuan Zengting, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank, said the fund needs to change "in a real sense" to give emerging market countries more say, and that the current selection process for a new IMF chief is a way to start.

"There are candidates from emerging markets and developing countries who are competent enough to lead the IMF as a managing director, although they do not have history to prove their ability in balancing interests," Yuan wrote.

His remarks were published in the People's Daily, China's Communist Party mouthpiece. Although they may not directly reflect the views of China's leaders, they lay bare some of the elements of official thinking.

They also highlight the tussle for power at the IMF after its leader suddenly left. Emerging powers want more say in the fund to reflect their growing economic clout, while some European officials say the new head should be one of their own.

Yuan did not name any candidates whom he thought was appropriate.

As of Friday, there were two confirmed nominations for the IMF leadership: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Mexico Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens.

Lagarde is scheduled to visit China next week to lobby for support for her IMF candidacy, although it is still unclear which Chinese officials she will meet.

China, for its part, has not officially endorsed any candidate, but Beijing has said repeatedly that it wants "democratic consultation" over who should head the IMF, and would like to see more emerging market officials helping to run the fund.

Yuan reiterated that point on Friday. "The IMF has made little progress in reforming the ways it distributes decision-making powers," Yuan said.

"It still demonstrates an order dictated by the United States and Europe. This increasingly out-dated fashion does not satisfy the demands of emerging powers."

China's Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said last month that the IMF's future leadership should reflect the growing stature of emerging economies.

Although the French government has said that China supports Lagarde's candidacy, China has not confirmed that.

Publicly, China has joined forces with other emerging economies, including Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa to decry the IMF's long-running practise of having a European chief.

The IMF was thrown into a crisis last month after its former boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, quit following charges that he tried to rape a hotel maid. Strauss-Kahn has denied those charges.