David Lipton (Credit: Agence France Presse/Getty Images)
“One of the most senior figures at the International Monetary Fund is stepping down in a move that will allow the Trump administration to influence who will take over as second-in-command at the financial watchdog.
David Lipton, 66, will step down as first deputy managing director after a nine-year tenure that made him the longest-serving official to hold what is effectively the number two position.
When he leaves at the end of this month he will be joined by Carla Grasso, chief administrative officer and one of three deputy managing directors appointed in 2015.
The moves will allow the IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva to stamp her mark on the organisation four months after she took on the top job. It is understood she wants to raise the profile of the departmental directors who are the key people who will implement her policy on the ground.
However, according to precedent, the first deputy managing director of the IMF has traditionally been an American national, offsetting the fact that Europeans have always held the top job of the Washington-based multilateral lender.
(…) A year ago, David Malpass, a senior Treasury official, was appointed as president of the World Bank after being nominated by US president Donald Trump”. (Read more: Independent, 2/07/2020) (Archive)