(Bloomberg) -- All names being floated as potential leaders of the International Monetary Fund are fully qualified, according to OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria.
“It should be based on merit, merit-based rather than that you belong to a particular region of the world,” he told Bloomberg Television in an interview from Chantilly, France, where he's attending a meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs. “We can sleep tight because if any of those names that are being talked about today are appointed at the head of the IMF, we'll be in good hands.”
European leaders are trying to find a candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde, who is set to become European Central Bank president in November. People linked to the role include former Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Spanish Finance Minister Nadia Calvino and Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn.
Emerging market economy have previously challenged the traditional European hold on the IMF role, and they are likely to do so again this time around.
Fiscal Stimulus
Gurria also called on governments to take up some of the mantle of stimulus that monetary authorities -- “central bankers are heroes,” he said -- have carried until now.
“You now need fiscal policy to come in. You now need countries that have the fiscal space to come in and stimulate their economies, invest some more. It doesn't mean they're going to lose control of their economies or their deficits or their debt, it's just that there is room in many economies and they should use it.”
--With assistance from Toru Fujioka, Saleha Mohsin, Jessica Shankleman and Birgit Jennen.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Westin in New York at dwestin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss, Chiara Albanese
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