Interview with Horst Köhler: Outgoing Managing Director backs rethink of IMF voting structure

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IMF SURVEY: Your sudden departure has cast a spotlight once again on how the IMF Managing Director is chosen. Is it time to abandon the tradition that Europe holds the top IMF post and the United States the top position at the World Bank? What would you suggest be done?

KÖHLER: I support an open and transparent process to select the Managing Director, and I see no reason to restrict the search to a particular Page 115 country or region. But we must also be realistic: there will always be an element of politics in the selection process because the IMF is an important institution, and its members want, and deserve, a strong say in who is at the helm.

IMF SURVEY: Governance issues extend beyond the selection process for the Managing Director. Many developing countries have long felt that they don't have sufficient voice and representation at the Executive Board. You chaired the Board for several years. Are the developing countries underrepresented? What is needed to reach a political solution to address current imbalances in representation?

KÖHLER: It's critical for the IMF to maintain a spirit of consensus and ensure that all members, large and small, feel that they are heard and can say, "Yes, this is also my Fund." That's why listening and consensus building are more important than numerical representation. That said, I do see scope for some adjustment in voting shares, for example, by increasing so- called basic voting rights, which would favor small, low-income members, and by raising the share of fast-growing emerging market countries, whose quotas no longer reflect their true weight in the world economy. I also think that Europe, in a bold political gesture, could rethink its own representation.

IMF SURVEY: Would you favor consolidating the EU's representation in the Executive Board, currently spread over 10 chairs, into a single EU chair?

KÖHLER: This is an issue for the Europeans to decide. The draft European constitution does go in that direction. Personally, I support a vision of an ever closer political union in Europe, and consolidating EU chairs in the IMF's Executive Board would be consistent with that vision!

IMF SURVEY: Reflecting on your four years as Managing Director, what would you regard as your greatest successes and greatest disappointments?

KÖHLER: It's too early to come to final judgments on reforms that have been implemented over the past four years, many of which were under way before I arrived. But...