International Monetary Fund VOLUME 29 NUMBER 5 March 6, 2000 www.imf.org In this issue Executive Board selection process 65 Fischer, Koch-Weser, Sakakibara are nominated Nominations for IMF Managing Director for position of next IMF Managing Director 65 Interview with he IMF Executive Board has received three nomi- currently holds the presidency of the European Claudio Loser nations for the post of the next Managing Union. A supporting statement was made by Bernd T 66 Director to succeed Michel Camdessus, who resigned Esdar, Executive Director for Germany. The IMF’s Tribute to Sir Joseph effective mid-February (see page 67). Executive Directors are in consultation with their Gold On February 22, the Board received the nomina- respective authorities on the nominations received. 67 tions of Stanley Fischer, the current Acting Managing Also, statements by the nominating Directors have Pacific Island Director of the IMF, and Eisuke Sakakibara, former been posted on the IMF’s website (www.imf.org). technical assistance Vice Minister of Finance of Japan. On February 29, it Stanley Fischer has served as First Deputy Manag- 67 received the nomination of Caio Koch-Weser, State ing Director of the IMF since September 1994. Born Finance & Secretary for International Finance of Germany. in Zambia, he was educated at the London School of Development Fischer was nominated by José Pedro de Morais, Jr., Economics and the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- March issue Executive Director for a number of African member nology (MIT). He was then successively an assistant 68 countries; Sakakibara was nominated by Yukio professor of economics at the University of Chicago Sugisaki on the Yoshimura, Executive Director for Japan; and. Koch- and a professor of economics at MIT. He has also Caribbean Weser was nominated, on behalf of the member states held visiting professorships at the Hebrew University, 71 of the European Union, by Joao Santos, an Advisor in Jerusalem, and the Hoover Institution, Stanford Uni- Conference on contagion the Board constituency that includes Portugal, which versity. He is the author (Please turn to the following page) 75 Emerging market Interview with Claudio Loser prospects Caribbean countries face both challenges and 77 Korean economic opportunities as they pursue integration recovery he Caribbean was the focus of a recent high-level semi- West Indies, and the private sector. Many IMF repre- and . T nar, held in Barbados on February 8, in which the IMF sentatives also attended, including IMF Deputy 70 and several other international organizations participated, Managing Director Shigemitsu (Continued on page 68) Selected IMF rates along with national and regional officials. The IMF’s 78 Western Hemisphere Department has also stepped up its Recent publications activities in that region, as part of a “Caribbean initiative.” 80 The editors of the IMF Survey met with Claudio Loser, New on the web Director of the Western Hemisphere Department, to dis- cuss important issues in these countries from both a national and an international perspective. What was the focus of the high-level Barbados semi- nar and its chief message? LOSER: This seminar was organized and cosponsored by the IMF and the Caribbean Development Bank. Participants included prime ministers, regional finance ministers, and central bank governors, as Loser: “In view of its size, the Caribbean cannot be self-suf- well as representatives from the regional and multi- ficient; its economies have to be very closely associated lateral organizations, the University of the with the rest of the world.” 65 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution (Continued from front page) of numerous books and arti- Bank President Robert S. McNamara, Deputy Trea- cles in the field of economics. surer, Director for West Africa, Division Chief for Eisuke Sakakibara is currently a professor at Keio China, and Vice President for the Middle East and University and a special advisor to the Japanese Min- North Africa, before being appointed Managing istry of Finance. He holds degrees from the universi- Director for Operations in 1996. ties of Tokyo and Michigan and served in a number Under the terms of Article XII of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the Executive Board has the responsibility of selecting the Managing Direc- tor, who should be neither a governor of the IMF nor an Executive Director. Once selected, Picture not the Managing Director serves as both chairman of the Board—where he exercises no vote except available a deciding vote in the case of an equal divi- sion—and chief of the operating staff of the IMF. The Board’s aim is to reach agreement on the selection of the next Managing Director by con- sensus through discussion and through a process Stanley Fischer Eisuke Sakakibara Caio Koch-Weser in which flexibility takes precedence over formal- ism. To this end, the Board held an informal straw of positions in the Ministry of Finance before being poll by secret ballot on March 2. In the poll, Caio appointed Vice Minister of Finance for International Koch-Weser received the largest share of voting Affairs in 1997. He was also an economist at the IMF power; Stanley Fischer received the second largest; from 1971 to 1975 and a visiting associate professor and Eisuke Sakakibara, the third largest. Executive of economics at Harvard University during 1980–81. Directors will continue to consult with each other and Sakakibara is the author of a number of publications their national authorities on the next steps. Although on the Japanese economy and other economic topics. the poll can be only indicative, it enables the Board, Caio Koch-Weser has been State Secretary for and in particular its Dean—Abbas Mirakhor, Execu- International Finance at the German Finance Min- tive Director for the Board constituency that includes istry since May 1999. Prior to that, he served for the Islamic Republic of Iran—to gauge the support 25 years with the World Bank in a number of posi- for different candidates and judge the emergence of a tions, including those of personal assistant to then consensus. Sir Joseph Gold is memorialized as authority on international law Following his retirement in 1979, Sir Joseph worked for the Sir Joseph Gold, a leading authority on international monetary IMF until last year as a Senior Consultant, a position from law, who for many years was General Counsel of the IMF, died which he continued to write extensively on the legal frame- at his home in Maryland on February 22 at the age of 87. work of the IMF and the international monetary system. He Acting Managing Director Stanley Fischer paid tribute to was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1980. Sir Joseph in a statement to the IMF Executive Board, as While on the staff, Sir Joseph was the principal draftsman “this extraordinary man who was so of the First Amendment of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, important in the life of the Fund for so which created the SDR, and of the Second Amendment, long....Sir Joseph occupies a distinguished which revised the Articles after the termination of the par place in Fund history. His many contribu- value system. He represented the IMF in various international tions will remain as a lasting memory.” forums, including a number concerned with the reform of the A U.K. national, Sir Joseph was one of international monetary system. the central pillars of the IMF staff from its Sir Joseph was a prolific writer on a wide range of legal issues earliest days, serving in different capacities pertaining to the IMF and the international monetary system. for 53 years and making a lasting contribu- He was a legal lecturer at many universities, including the Uni- tion to developing the law of the IMF and versity of Michigan and Columbia School of Law. Sir Joseph to the better understanding of the IMF was a founding member of the editorial committee of the The through his writings. He joined the staff as Modern Law Review, a member of the Advisory Board of the a Counselor in October 1946, just three months after the George Washington University Journal of International Law and IMF’s doors were opened, and served in a number of senior Economics, and a member of the Advisory Board of Law and March 6, 2000 positions before being appointed General Counsel in 1960. Policy in International Business at Georgetown University. 66 ©International Monetary Fund. Not for Redistribution IMF Executive Board receives nominations for Managing Director, conducts straw pole n two press releases, the IMF Executive Board announced Caio Koch-Weser, Germany’s State Secretary for I that it had received, on February 22 and February 29, for- International Finance, was nominated on behalf of the mal nominations for the post of the next Managing Director European Union member states by Joao Santos, an of the IMF. In addition, in a press release issued on March 2, Advisor in the Executive Board constituency that the Executive Board announced that it had held an informal includes Portugal, which currently holds the presi- straw pole. The full text of Press Release Nos. 00/10, 00/12, dency of the European Union. Bernd Esdar, Executive and 00/15 is available on the IMF’s website (www.imf.org). Director for Germany, made a statement in support of Stanley Fischer, IMF First Deputy Managing Direc- the nomination of Koch-Weser. tor, and currently Acting Managing Director, was Statements by the Executive Directors are posted nominated for the post by José Pedro de Morais, Jr., on the IMF’s website. the Executive Director representing Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swazi- land, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.