Dominique Strauss-Kahn: New IMF chief

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), faces the daunting task of redefining a 185-nation institution increasingly seen as irrelevant.

The Frenchman won, as expected, the IMF executive board's 'consensus' nod on Friday, setting the business-friendly socialist on track to lead the IMF at a critical juncture for its survival.

The 58-year-old former French finance minister pledged to immediately get down to work on reforms at the IMF when he takes office as managing director on November 1.

He will succeed Rodrigo Rato of Spain, the shortest-serving managing director in IMF history. Rato, who took office in May 2004, surprisingly announced in June that he was stepping down in October for personal reasons.

Strauss-Kahn has promised to fulfill 'at least' a five-year mandate to carry through reforms to redefine the IMF and resolve a financial crisis due to a steep decline in the demand for loans, whose interest payments help pay for operations.

Biography

Strauss-Kahn has been a member of the French National Assembly and is Professor of Economics at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. He served as Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry from June 1997 to November 1999. He also served as Minister of Industry and International Trade from 1991-1993. Between 1993 and 1997, Strauss-Kahn joined the private sector as a corporate lawyer.
Since 2000, Strauss-Kahn has taught economics at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and he has been a visiting professor at Stanford University. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Paris. He is married with four children.
Tosovsky and Strauss-Kahn were interviewed by the IMF Board in Washington in September. In his September 20 statement to the Board, Strauss-Kahn said the IMF was at a crossroads. Its very existence as the major institution providing financial stability to the world might be at stake, and rebuilding its relevance and legitimacy would be a hard task.