Monday5 August 2019 ★† FINANCIAL TIMES 3INTERNATIONAL
MICHAEL PEEL IN BRUSSELS,
VALERIE HOPKINS IN BUDAPEST
AND JAMES POLITI IN WASHINGTONKristalinaGeorgieva, the favourite to be
theIMF’s new head, is a Bulgarian econ-
omist and career technocrat for whom
the fund offers a chance to lead a global
institution after she missed out on top
jobs at the UN and EU.
Ms Georgieva, number two at the
World Bank, became the leading candi-
date to replace Christine Lagarde at the
IMF late on Friday when the EU made
her its choice to head the fund after a
divisive 14-hour round of voting.
If confirmed in post by IMF member
countries when its board votes in early
October, Ms Georgieva would join two
other European women in leading
international roles. Ms Lagarde of
France is moving from the fund to head
the European Central Bank in Frank-
furt, while Germany’s Ursula von der
Leyen is to bethe European Commis-
sion’s first female president — a role for
which Ms Georgieva had been in the
running.
The 65-year old, who is World Bank
chief executive, is seen as a diplomat
rather than a political ideologue and has
won praise for dealing deftly with diffi-
cult policy problems and relationships
in Washington and Brussels.
Simeon Djankov, a former Bulgarian
finance minister who joined the World
Bank with Ms Georgieva andworkedwith her while she was at the European
Commission, said her experience of rep-
resenting the World Bank at meetings
such as the G7 and the G20 gave her a
“global presence”.
“She has that advantage over other
Europeans who may be great in Europe
but wouldn’t have experience in
Rwandaor Indonesiaor Honduras,”
he said.
Ms Georgieva emergedas the EU can-
didate for IMF managing director after
edging out Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the
Dutch former chair of the Eurogroup of
eurozone finance ministers, in an acri-
monious contest for a job that has tradi-
tionally gone to a European.
Her selection was a victory for
France’s Emmanuel Macron, after other
influential countries including Ger-
many and the Netherlands backed Mr
Dijsselbloem.
“She has the ability to create consen-
sus,” said Sophie Alexandrova, who
worked in Ms Georgieva’s cabinet when
she was commission vice-president.
“She can bring people together in tough
moments full of testosterone. She man-
ages to calm that down and put people
around the table.”
The Bulgarian’s appointment to the
IMF would require a rule change as last
year she turned 65,the organisation’s
upper age limit for managing director.
Her EU backers insist the alteration can
be made quickly and has US support.Ms Georgieva — fluent in English and
Russian — would be the first managing
director of the IMF from outside west-
ern Europe.
“She lived in emerging markets and
worked there for the majority of her
life,” said Mr Djankov. “If you have lived
through... difficult economic times,
not just as a professional but seeing first-
hand through your family and friends,
you have an understanding not only of
solutions but also of the social costs of
the crisis.”
Ms Georgieva began her career as an
academic in Sofia before moving to
the World Bank in the early 1990s.
She held environmental programme
roles before becoming the bank’s
resident representative in Russia
between 2004 and 2007 and then one of
its vice-presidents.In 2010 she moved to Brussels to
become Bulgaria’s EU commissioner,
taking up first responsibility for aid and
development and then becoming vice-
president for the budget.
She won praisefor her handling of
perennial tensions over the 28-member
bloc’s finances, though she chafed at
what she and some fellow commission-
ers saw as the top-down way the EU
executive was run.
She launched an unsuccessful bid to
become secretary-general of the UN in
2016, when the job went to António
Guterres.
Another person who knows Ms Geor-
gieva said she was demanding to work
for, but “gets things done through
extremely hard work and personal cha-
risma.Anyone who knows her admires
her effectiveness and superhuman
energy.”
In the past two-and-a-half years in
Washington, Ms Georgieva has served as
chief executive of the World Bank
group, running the lender’s day-to-day
operations during the waning tenure of
Jim Yong Kim, who resigned as presi-
dent in January, and the early days of his
successor David Malpass.
She wasthe driving force behind the
successful negotiations with the Trump
administration to secure a $13bn capital
increase.
Observers of the Bretton Woods insti-
tutions say Ms Georgieva is likely to con-
tinue Ms Lagarde’s expansion of the
IMF’s ambit to focus more on the impact
of inequality, gender and climate
change.
She has less experience in purely
financial matters than Ms Lagarde or
other previous IMF managing directors,
meaningshe may have to rely more on
her staff on these matters.
“No one was going to be 100 per
cent fluent in every issue the IMF
was going to face,” said Douglas Rediker,
a former US Treasury official at
International Capital Strategies, a con-
sultancy. “In those areas where she
does not have as much hands-on experi-
ence, the building is capable of filling in
the gaps.”Europe picks
adroit handler
of policy and
people for IMF
Georgieva’s candidacy represents victory
for Macron after Dijsselbloem is edged out
Kristalina Georgieva has won praise
for dealing deftly with difficult
policy problems and relationships in
Washington and Brussels
Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto/PABorn1953 in Sofia, BulgariaEducationMA in political economy and
sociology and PhD in economic sciences
at University of National and World
Economy, Sofia1977-1993Assistant professor and
associate professor, University of
National and World Economy1993-2010World Bank, rising to become
vice-president and corporate secretary2010-16EU commissioner, first for
international co-operation and then
vice-president for the budget2017-19World Bank chief executive
officer and, briefly, interim presidentFrom
academia
in Sofia to
top role at
World BankCV‘No one was
going to be100 per
cent fluentin every
issue theIMF
was goingto face’
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