Lagarde Favorite for IMF Post

The AP reports:

The finance chiefs of Germany and Britain on Saturday added to a chorus of calls for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to become the new leader of the International Monetary Fund.

Lagarde has emerged as a front-runner to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also of France, who resigned this week to face charges in New York that he tried to rape a hotel maid at the Sofitel in downtown Manhattan. He denies the charges.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Lagarde would give Europe its best chance to again lead the fund.

“Europe would have the best chance to secure the post again with Christine Lagarde, if she decides to run,” Schaeuble told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag.

He was quoted as saying that Lagarde was “outstandingly qualified” and “extremely respected and appreciated in the entire financial world.”

Schaeuble and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that it is crucial that all Europeans now rally behind a candidate.

Merkel on Saturday stopped short of formally endorsing Lagarde but said she was a “distinguished” and “very experienced” personality.

Also Saturday, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that Britain will back Lagarde for IMF managing director, calling her “the outstanding candidate for the IMF” and saying that he personally believes “it would be a very good thing to see the first female managing director of the IMF in its 60-year history.”

Osborne said Lagarde has “shown real international leadership as chair of the G20 finance ministers this year. She has also been a strong advocate for countries tackling high budget deficits and living within their means.”