IMF agreement close as Lemierre pulls ahead

Informal talks being held Friday and Saturday at a racecourse outside Dublin are likely to be dominated by the decision on the EU's nomination to succeed Germany's Horst Koehler as IMF managing director.

"It is hoped to get a decision at Punchestown," said an Irish spokesman, referring to the racecourse where the meeting is being held. He stressed that there is no imminent deadline for agreeing a candidate.

The race to succeed Koehler appears to be a two-horse competition between Spanish Economy Minister Rodrigo Rato and the French head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Jean Lemierre.

The Spanish minister emerged as an early front-runner.

But Rato's hopes may have been set back further by the nomination of another Spaniard to the ECB.

However, 14 Latin American countries rallied behind Rato's IMF bid at a meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in the Peruvian capital Lima Tuesday.

53-year-old Lemierre is now seen as the frontrunner by many, in particular because of support from European heavyweights France and Germany under a quid pro quo arrangement.