IMF maintains Asian presence with new appointment

Singapore

MANAGING director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde has opted to maintain a strong Asian presence in her team by appointing Japanese former vice-minister Mitsuhiro Furasawa to one of the institution's four deputy managing director posts.

He replaces Naoyuki Shinohara, who is due to step down at the end of this month.

Japan has held one of the deputy managing directorships at the Washington-based IMF since around the time of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when Japan's former vice-finance minister for international affairs Eisuke Sakakibara proposed that an Asian Monetary Fund be set up.

That did not happen, but the appointment of a Japanese deputy managing director has come to be seen as a response to Asian pressure for greater representation at the IMF.

A Chinese deputy managing director, Zhu Min, was subsequently also appointed, which created an even stronger Asian presence.

Earlier this year, Ms Lagarde appointed Carla Grasso, a dual national of Brazil and Italy, to the position of deputy managing director and chief administrative officer, a new position created to raise the level of the IMF's internal operational and administrative management.

The current "first deputy managing director" is David Lipton, an American who used to be Special Assistant to the US President, and who served as Senior Director of International Economic Affairs at the National Economic Council and National Security Council at the White House.

The top position of managing director at the IMF has been occupied by a European national since the founding of the Bretton Woods institution, although pressure from some members to appoint a non-European head continues to mount.

Mr Furusawa joined Japan's Ministry of Finance in 1979 and served as vice-finance minister for international affairs from March 2013 until last July. He was an IMF executive director from 2010 to 2012, an IMF statement said.

Currently Special Adviser to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and to Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, he is due to assume his new role at the IMF on March 2.

His predecessor Mr Shinohara plans to return to Japan after this month, Kyodo new service reported.

Ms Lagarde said in the statement that she was looking forward to working with Mr Furusawa, as he knows the IMF very well and "brings with him a wealth of experience from his long and distinguished career with the government of Japan".