IMF/EUROZONE/BRASIL/POLAND: 17 May UPDATE: Strauss-Kahn's Arrest Feeds Need For IMF Chief Selection Change.

BLOOMBERG/ S. Rastello

   Brasil and other emerging economies have long been lobbying for more voice in selection of the IMF head.
    With the arrest of Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn for attempted rape, those efforts may finally come to fruition.
    Strauss-Kahn, a former French FM, was chosen to a five-year term in 2007 due to an informal agreement from the end of World War II...where a European heads the IMF...while an American leads the World Bank.
 “This event is likely to put into play the leadership and governance structure of the IMF in a dramatic and unanticipated manner,” said a former IMF official.
   “There’s going to be pretty frantic diplomatic agitation” if Strauss-Kahn resigns, said Nicolas Veron, senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economics research group. “It’s the first time that the competition is so internationally open.”

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that European leaders would propose a candidate to lead the IMF if Strauss-Kahn resigns. She added that “in the mid-term, developing countries have a right to the post of IMF chief” and that “in the current situation, when we have a lot of discussions about the euro, Europe has good candidates to offer.”
     Could Poland's Marek Belka be that candidate.?
     Polish central bank governor Belka is from Europe. He’d probably be backed by Germany. He worked at the IMF. And he's from an emerging market.
http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2011/05/16/polands-belka-ticks-many-boxes-for-new-imf-chief/ 

 NEW!!!: More candidates are mentioned To Succeed DSK:
   Turkey's Kemal Dervis, French FM Christine Lagarde, South Africa's Trevor Manuel, Mexico's Agustin Carstens and India's Montek Singh Ahluwalia...are briefly profiled.
http://en.mercopress.com/2011/05/17/potential-candidates-to-succeed-strauss-kahn-as-head-of-the-imf?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_content=main&utm_campaign=rss

POLAND: New Central Bank Chief Wants Regional Austerity.

WSJ/ Gordon Fairclough/      Marek Belka, the former IMF official now heading Poland's central bank believes that EU governments must start spending cuts and reduce debt loads or they may harm their neighbors. The zloty was dragged down with the Hungarian forint v the euro after the IMF and EU ended talks with PM Viktor Orban. They said Orban wasn't doing enough to cut spending. Belka believes only "moderate" austerity cuts are needed.  (Foto of M.Belka)

POLAND: Former PM Belka Nominated For Chief Banker.

AP/GOOGLE/      Former prime minister Marek Belka, 58, was nominated to head the central bank by acting President Komorowski. Belka is an economist currently working for the IMF and a former finance minister. "Everyone is happy," said economist Mateusz Szczurek. "If you look at his professional activity in the past 13 years, it's hard to find anyone more qualified."  But Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak dissented and said he doesn’t want the central bank to be run by “a monetarist” such as  Belka because the country needs “someone interested in supporting economic growth.” The previous central banker Slawomir Skrzypek died in the 10 April plane crash in Russia.