(Bloomberg) -- The IMF executive board recommended removing the age-limit for the fund's managing director, paving the way for the European Union-backed candidate to replace Christine Lagarde.
Kristalina Georgieva, the World Bank‘s chief executive, was earlier this month selected by European governments as their nominee to head the fund. Current IMF rules prohibits the appointment of a new managing director aged 65 or older and says they can't serve in the role past their 70th birthday, the fund said in a statement Wednesday. Georgieva turned 66 last week.
Lagarde is set to step down Sept. 12, and the IMF wants to choose her successor by Oct. 4.
Removing the age restriction for the IMF managing director will bring the rules in line with those for the IMF executive board and the World Bank Group president, according to the statement. None of those positions are subject to an age limit, the IMF said in its statement.
The IMF board of governors must give final approval on removing the age restrictions.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking to rally support for former Finance Minister George Osborne to become the next head of the IMF, according to a person familiar with the matter. The U.K. objected to the way other EU governments nominated Georgieva, saying they didn't have enough time to field a candidate. A Briton has never run the fund.
An unwritten transatlantic agreement typically allows Europe to select the managing director of the IMF and the U.S. to choose the president of the World Bank.
--With assistance from Jessica Shankleman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Washington at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson
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