The announcement of the appointment of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been met with disappointment by ActionAid.

Along with other campaigners globally, we had called for an open and democratic selection process for the new Managing Director of the IMF - a stance supported by the UK government and developing countries such as Brazil and South Africa.

Western dominance of the IFIs continues

Instead, the IMF has weakened its credibility even further by organising another closed appointment process. Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn is the IMF’s 10th European male Managing Director in a row.

The selection process is a legacy of the post World War II carve up of the IFIs. The US agreed to the IMF head being a European in return for a guarantee that the World Bank head would be a US citizen.

Credibility of IFIs at all-time low

This comes at a time when the shockingly undemocratic governance system of the IFIs is attracting increasing criticism. Europe and the US control over 50% of the IMF’s votes, with African countries controlling only 5%, making a mockery of the claim that the IMF is a global representative institution.

Where next for the IFIs?

ActionAid is calling for a fundamental overhaul of the governance of the IMF and World Bank. Including:

• Introducing ‘double majority’ voting, with decisions being made by a majority of countries as well as a majority of voting shares.
• Ensuring that all top officials are selected by open, transparent competition.
• All decisions to be made in fully transparent manner, as called for by the Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions, of which ActionAid is a member.