In a speech delivered near to the scene of the alleged crime at a luxury New York hotel. Mr Geithner said the man once mooted as next year’s Socialist candidate for the French presidency was “obviously not in a position to run the IMF”.
The IMF is deemed pivotal in tackling the eurozone sovereign debt crisis as speculation increases that Greece may beabout forced to yet again restructure its debt mountain.
“He is obviously not in a position to run the IMF and it is important that the board of the IMF formally put in place for an interim period someone to act as managing director”, Mr Geithner said.
Similar remarks were made by Austrian finance minister Mario Fekter, who said Strauss-Kahn was hurting the IMF and it would be best for all if he resigned and Spanish finance minister Elena Salgado.
French finance minister Christine Lagarde emerged as an early favourite to replace her compatriot Strauss-Kahn as IMF boss as eurozone ministers, the largest voting bloc on the IMF’s executive committee, argued that they should retain the job rather than cede it to a candidate from rising economies such as the BRIC nations.
Meanwhile, opinion poll findings in France suggest that Socialist Francois Hollande would narrowly win the first presidential round if he were his party’s candidate and it were held now, rather than in a year’s time.
