IMF Chief Georgieva Wins German Backing for a Second Term

(Bloomberg) -- Kristalina Georgieva is “exactly the right person to steer” the International Monetary Fund, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said, openly acknowledging his country’s backing for a second term.

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Commenting in a X post, Lindner said that Georgieva navigated the IMF “through difficult times over the last years.”

“I am convinced that she is exactly the right person to steer the institution through the challenges ahead and to strengthen the IMF as an advocate for structural reforms in our economies,” he said Monday.

Georgieva’s current term ends in September, and she said Friday that she “would be honored” to serve for longer. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in late February that she’s doing a “great job” and his country would back her if she decided to seek another term. Bloomberg reported last week that she’d also won German backing.

Should Georgieva have refrained from standing again, Eurogroup chief Paschal Donohoe — who also is Ireland’s minister of public expenditure — may have been a potential successor.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Monday, he acknowledge the Bloomberg’s December report on the topic, but said that any such prospect hinged on there being a vacancy, which now no longer looked likely.

“Kristalina has steered the IMF through a pandemic, a war — and has done so in an incredibly inclusive way,” he said. “I’m very lucky to have two jobs as it is, I plan to see both of them out.”

--With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou and Jorge Valero.

(Updates with Donohoe starting in fifth paragraph)

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