News makers:
28 Feb 2000
Washington: On 29 February Europe formally nominated German deputy finance minister Caio Koch-Weser as its candidate for the position of managing director of the International Monetary Fund. That will mean an informal poll of IMF members and a clash between the European and Americans.
The others in the running are acting IMF chief Stanley Fischer and former Japanese deputy finance minister Eisuke Sakakibara. Past MDs of the institution have been Europeans (just as heads of the Workd Bank, the IMFs associate organisation, have been Americans). But the US, the IMF's largest shareholder, has refused to support Koch-Weser because, it says, he doesnt have the necessary qualifications.
Developing countries have supported Mr Fischer, a
naturalised American.