IMF's Christine Lagarde nominated for top job at European Central Bank

[sandensea]

Source: The Street

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde has emerged as the choice to replace Mario Draghi as President of the European Central Bank (ECB) President later this year following two days of tense negotiations in Brussels.

Officials in Berlin say that Chancellor Angela Merkel is a fan of Lagarde and she would enjoy widespread support from among the governing Christian Democrats.

The combination of Lagarde and Von der Leyen however was proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in a conversation with Merkel on Monday night, an EU official said.

Lagarde, 63, a lawyer by trade who has no direct monetary policy experience, has served as France's Finance Minister from 2007 until 2011, when she took over as IMF Managing Director following the resignation of her fellow French countryman, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Lagarde faces immense challenges, however, when she takes over from Draghi in a few months' time. These include the region's moribund growth prospects, its stubbornly-low inflation rate and the nearly-depleted ECB toolkit.

Read more: https://www.thestreet.com/investing/fixed-income/christine-lagarde-to-replace-mario-draghi-as-european-central-bank-president-15008902

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IMF Director Christine Lagarde with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Argentine President Mauricio Macri during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires last year.

Lagarde's tenure at the IMF has been strongly supported by the Trump administration.

But she has reaped criticism for a record, $56 billion bailout of Argentina, 77% of which is being used to finance capital flight - against the IMF's own rules.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Who's taking her place at the IMF? Ivanka?

[sandensea]

2. I wouldn't be surprised

To be fair though, considering Lagarde's job performance lately, it would probably be just as well.

He unconditional obedience to Cheeto - up to and including breaking the IMF's own rules just to benefit a personal Trump friend (Macri) who's up for re-election, knowing Argentina can't repay - practically makes her one of Trump's toadies.

That said, it'll be interesting to see who Cheeto tries to install as IMF director - and how much pushback there might be from Europe, Japan, and China.