This September, IMF Chairman Christine Lagarde will step down from her post and is expected to get confirmed as the head of the eurozone's central pillar for its currency and monetary policy, the European Central Bank.
Still, Lagarde's IMF appointment in 2011 has without critics. The IMF, with its 189 members, was created after the Second World War for monetary policy, trade and global cooperation in finance.
Lagarde's critics were brought about by the IMF always having a European director. This criticism was made worse with the World Bank, a sister organization overseeing the same things like the IMF, was always headed by an American.
Not being just a matter of pride, this criticism had stuck because times already changed the global economy. The present global landscape is very different and institutions taking care of the world's financial stability need to reflect such changes starting from its leadership, at the least.
Massive economic changes happened after the Cold War. China is now geared to overtake the US economy by 2030 and become the world's largest.
Likewise, France had been overtaken by India in the economic ranking with predictions that it will replace the UK in its current 5th position. Notable also is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) being in the 7th position and with continuous growth, will take it to the ranks of India.
When Lagarde started heading IMF, a financial collapse of major financial institutions brought about by a US financial crisis was happening worldwide. Not only that, the European Union (EU) since the end of 2009, is buried deep in a sovereign debt crisis.
Even if Lagarde tried to help, the world believes the IMF had failed to do something about the badly-conceived expansionary fiscal policies of Washington. Though the developed countries were able to go about this crisis through bail-outs of financial institutions, quantitative easing, and negative interest rates, the rest of the developing countries developed social unrest, political instability, and economic uncertainty.
Likewise, nothing significant happened to how IMF does its functions. Its use of loans as a policy tool has conditions compromising the recipient country's economic sovereignty.
The new chief who will replace Lagarde has the undeniable chance to remedy the under-representation of the global south in the IMF leadership among many others. For starters, he or she will also be obviously tasked to revise the Fund's foundational principles.
Still, the world economy is back from its losses from a decade ago. It has grown slowly under Lagarde's leadership.
