Time to switch to non-European IMF head: OECD

The time has come to choose a non-European to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a post Europe has claimed since the IMF was set up, OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said today.

Gurria told journalists as the IMF seeks a successor to Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn that he thought it was time to break with a tradition dating back to the end of World War II that a European heads the fund.

"I am totally in agreement that it is the time to change the tradition," Gurria said. "I think that this time it is possible but it must be done quickly.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has 34 members with advanced or well developed economies. It is a policy research and advisory centre for its member governments.

As for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, whose name has been touted strongly for the IMF job, Gurria said "she would do a fantastic job (but)... That is not the issue."

The issue instead was political, to choose a non-European, he said, adding at the same time that the "question of merit was more important than nationality".

The IMF was set up at the end of World War II to help guide the global economy back to health alongside the World Bank where an American has always taken the top job.

In recent years, emerging powers such as China, Brazil, India, Russia and elsewhere have called for this cosy arrangement to be abandoned so that they can have a greater say in running the global economy.