South Africa says IMF must select on merit

One of South Africa's most senior bank executives, Maria Ramos, the chief executive of the ABSA group, said on Friday that the next International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director should be chosen on merit rather than nationality.

According to Business Day newspaper in Johannesburg, Ramos made the comment while giving a keynote address on the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies at Johannesburg's Wits Business School.

Ramos, who is married to one of the potential IMF candidates, South African planning minister Trevor Manuel, called for the selection process to be "open and fair".

She declined to comment on Manuel's potential candidacy.

Ramos said that given the global environment and the imperative to reform the IMF and the World Bank, these bodies cannot reserve jobs for a particular country or region.

"We don't and shouldn't live in a world like that anymore," she said.

On Thursday, South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan confirmed that South Africa is in discussions with other developing countries "to ensure that the process of appointing the managing director of the IMF is open, transparent and merit-based".

On May 18 Gordhan said he would support Manuel should he be nominated.

"We would like all countries to be allowed, if they so wish, to field a candidate," Gordhan said.

"We are working towards consensus among developing countries, and between developing and developed nations", he added.

Also on Thursday, the official South African opposition Democratic Alliance's spokesman on finance, Dion George, said his party will support Manuel for the post.

George said it is time the IMF started to reflect the leading role that developing economies play on the global stage.

"When the IMF was constituted in 1945 to oversee the global financial system, the major players were all but limited to Europe and the U.S. In 2011, the global economy looks very different", he added.

Posted in: South Africa says IMF must select on merit