French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Europe’s debt crisis and the aftermath of the Arab Spring will be priorities for the International Monetary Fund’s next chief as she kept up her campaign for the post.
“Europe will be a clear focus for the next couple of years,” Lagarde told BBC Radio 4 today. “I also think that what is happening in northern Africa, in the Middle East, and the major economic developments that will be needed to accompany what is happening, will probably attract the IMF’s attention and possibly financing.”
The IMF said in a report prepared for the Group of Eight summit this week that oil-importing nations in the Middle East and North Africa will require more than $160 billion in external funding through 2013. Lagarde, who is vying to become France’s fifth IMF chief and maintain Europe’s hold on the position, also told the Financial Times she would “remedy the situation” if she found developing countries underrepresented at the fund.
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