WASHINGTON, Sept 28: The International Monetary Fund on Friday named France’s Dominique Strauss-Kahn its new managing director, a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

Strauss-Kahn, a former French Socialist finance minister and presidential candidate, was backed by Europe and the United States, the powers that still dominate the IMF.

The IMF board of executive directors was meeting on Friday morning ahead of its expected official announcement of the new managing director.

Strauss-Kahn would take over from Spain’s Rodrigo Rato next month, who is stepping down nearly two years before the end of his five-year mandate for personal reasons.

Strauss-Kahn, nominated by the Europe Union, was vying for the top post with Josef Tosovsky, a former Czech central bank governor proposed by Russia.

The 58-year-old Frenchman has pledged to be a “consensus-builder” at the 185-nation financial institution, which bails out countries in crisis but faces its own crisis of relevancy and legitimacy in a world flush with cash and access to capital.

He was awaiting the IMF board’s decision in Santiago, Chile, making what he called a symbolic visit to underscore his pledge to give more voice to emerging countries and middle-income countries in the IMF if elected.

“The fact that I am here with you in Chile, in Latin America, to wait perhaps for this news, is for me a good symbol that I would like to share with you,” he said on Thursday at a conference organised by a leftist think tank.

Brazil, Latin America’s regional powerhouse, Argentina and Chile on Thursday officially backed the European Union candidate who was first proposed by the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Bretton Woods institution, created in 1944 to help maintain global financial stability, is seeking to redefine its role in a globalising world reshaped by the rising economic clout of developing countries like China, India and Brazil.

The next managing director faces the daunting task of rebuilding both credibility and relevancy, and the Fund’s coffers.

Many countries question its relevancy because voting rights and the structure of representation on the board do not reflect the strength of the new economic powers.

That issue is at the heart of the debate over the unwritten tradition that the leading European powers choose the IMF head and the United States picks the president of the World Bank.

Rato, who has led the fund since May 2004, is set to leave his post after the Oct 20-22 annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington.—AFP