The chances of a European candidate winning the International Monetary Fund’s managing director ship appeared to rise after the French budget minister claimed China was prepared to back Christine Lagarde for the position.
Fran?ois Baroin, France’s budget minister, told Europe 1 radio “the Chinese support the candidacy of Christine Lagarde”. Ms Lagarde, the French fin-ance minister, is the leading European contender.
The Chinese foreign ministry said a “responsible person” from the “relevant Chi-nese department” had “already provided a res-ponse last week to the question regarding the choice of IMF managing director”. The ministry did not identify who had made the comment or to which Chinese department or ministry they were referring.