Georgieva reappointed as IMF Managing Director through an opaque and non-transparent process

On April 12^th, a day before the beginning of the World Bank and IMF Spring meetings, the IMF Executive Board selected Kristalina Georgieva to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting in October 1, 2024. The Board’s decision was taken by consensus.  While the formal process for appointing a new Managing Director was launched on March 13th, on March 12th, the European Union finance ministers have already endorsed Kristalina Georgieva for a second term, effectively shutting the doors to other candidates before the process even begun. 

As predicted by CSOs, this move guaranteed that no other candidates – particularly from the Global South would emerge. The only other candidates rumoured to have considered a run were also European citizens – namely, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire and Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe, who leads the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers.  

This proves yet again that the “gentleman’s agreement”, a non-written agreement that has ensured for 80 years that the IMF managing director has been a European and the World Bank president a US national, is alive and well. A product of this unspoken agreement, Georgieva will continue to be perceived as the instrument of western control of the Fund. Regardless of her expertise and efforts, Georgieva’s new mandate does not represent the change needed but rather more of the status quo, affecting her ability to be an effective leader in tackling the crises of the 21^st century.