Christine Lagarde, the IMF's new chief, pledged on Wednesday to push ahead with reforms to give fast-growing emerging markets greater sway at the global lender.
At a news conference on her second day as International Monetary Fund managing director, Lagarde acknowledged an array of immediate issues confronting the Fund, including Europe's debt crisis, but she also said she was focused on the need for the IMF to change with the times.
Institutions like the IMF must better reflect the shifting balance of power in the global economy, she said, adding the idea of creating a top-ranking post at the IMF to give a higher profile to emerging markets was "not a bad idea."
"The world is going to continue to change," she said. "We have these tectonic plates that are moving at the moment, and that needs to be reflected in the composition of governance and employment at the Fund."
Lagarde won the top spot at the IMF after her predecessor, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, resigned in May to face charges of sexual assault against a hotel maid in New York. Strauss-Kahn has denied the charges and the case appears to be unraveling over questions about the credibility of his accuser.
Lagarde declined to comment on Strauss-Kahn's situation despite repeated questions.
Questioning was occasionally tough at the heavily attended event, partly because of the drama surrounding her accession to the IMF leadership. Some emerging markets wanted the job to go to one of their members rather than carrying on a tradition of having a European head the global lender.
Lagarde, a former French finance minister who has training as a corporate lawyer but not an economist, was asked directly whether she was qualified to hold the job, which among other things involves deciding the disbursement of tens of billions of dollars to needy countries.
"I'm not going to brag about my qualifications or lack of qualifications. I think the truth of the pudding is in the eating as you say," Lagarde said. "We'll see how it goes."
