IMF: Resignation of Rodrigo de Rato

Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, announced yesterday that he will be resigning his position in October, approximately twenty months before his five-year term expires. Traditionally, the IMF Managing Director has been a western European national, chosen by those countries, just as the President of the World Bank has been a U.S. national chosen by the United States. This arrangement has been increasingly assailed over the past decade, including most recently during the selection of Paul Wolfowitz's successor at the Bank. Nonetheless, the European Union has already indicated that it continues to believe that the appointment of the Managing Director is its to make.