IMF director taps Chinese academic

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Lin Jianhai. [File photo]

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, nominated China's Lin Jianhai to lead the fund's secretary's department on Wednesday. The appointment underscores China's economic status and its increasing participation in global governance.

When the appointment takes effect on March 22, Lin will be the first Chinese person to lead the secretary's department at the Washington-based institution.

Lagarde lauded Lin's wide-ranging career at the IMF, saying his breadth of experience has been of particular benefit to the fund, where his skill in building consensus among staff, management and the fund's global membership has been essential to the work of the Executive Board during one of the most difficult periods in the organization's history.

Lin has been acting director of the department since November, the statement said.

Born in Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province in 1955, Lin studied at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics and at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a doctorate in international finance from George Washington University. Before arriving at the IMF in 1989, he worked in the financial sector and in academia.

Lin will lead a department that is responsible for the operations of the IMF's 24-member executive board and serves as a main contact point for the institution's 187 member countries, according to an IMF statement.

"I'm not surprised by the news. As China is the world's second-largest economy, it will naturally play a bigger role in global financial and economic governance," said Yu Miaojie, associate professor at Peking University's China Center for Economic Research.

"I expect an increasing number of Chinese to assume top positions in international institutions," Yu said.

Last July, Lagarde named the Chinese economist Zhu Min as a deputy managing director, the first Chinese to hold the post, in an attempt to strengthen the IMF's understanding of Asia and emerging economies.

At the time Zhu was only the second Chinese to take a senior position in a top international financial institution. Lin Yifu, who was appointed vice-president and chief economist of the World Bank in 2008, was the first.

Lin Jianhai's nomination came on the same day that the IMF's executive board agreed on the outlines of a new structure to regulate voting power and contributions in the organization. The new structure will recognize the rise of emerging economies in the global economy, according to a report from AFP, citing a source in the organization.

According to the source, the reform proposal, advanced by Brazil's IMF director Paulo Nogueira Batista, was favorably received by the board's senior directors.

The proposed reform comes as the IMF seeks to boost its resources for crisis intervention by some $500 billion.

While Europe will play a large role in this, the lion's share is expected to come from cash-rich emerging economies, such as Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa.

The reform still has to be defined precisely, but the scope of accord on the restructuring - which would probably diminish Europe's powerful role at the fund - suggests that the details could be sorted out quickly.

China has made many calls for reformation of the shareholding and governing structure of the IMF.