Strauss-Kahn to make lobbying trip on IMF candidacy

(Reuters) - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French candidate to head the International Monetary Fund, said on Tuesday he would tour key world capitals in the North and South to convince IMF members of his merits.

European Union countries have said they support Strauss-Kahn's candidature to head the body, but many countries in the developing world question the tradition that a European heads the IMF and an American leads the World Bank.


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IMF Chief De Rato to Leave Post in October, Two Years Before His Term Ends

(Bloomberg) -- International Monetary Fund Managing
Director Rodrigo de Rato will quit his post in October, two
years before his term ends, citing ``personal reasons.''

De Rato, a former Spanish economy minister who has led the
Washington-based agency since June 2004, will leave after the
annual meetings of the fund and the World Bank, the IMF said in
a statement. He said that he was concerned about his children's
education, without elaborating.


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Donor aid poses liquidity problem for Tanzania - IMF

(Reuters) - Absorbing high liquidity from donor funds will be a challenge for Tanzania's economy and the government should sell more foreign exchange, the international Monetary Fund said in a statement.

The country is among Africa's top aid recipients and received $336 million in debt relief from the IMF last year.


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IMF endorses Mozambique policies with new programme

(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved Mozambique's graduation to an IMF programme designed to monitor a country's policies but involves no loans.

The IMF also agreed to disburse $2.4 million to the southern African nation, the sixth and final tranche under a 2004 IMF loan agreement that now expires.


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REFILE-IMF approves changes to currency surveillance-Rato

(Reuters) - "The new decision reflects current best practice in our
work of monitoring members' exchange rate policies and domestic
economic policies," Rato said in the prepared text of a speech
in Montreal.




He said that, while IMF's surveillance will continue to
focus on members' exchange rate policies relating to currency
manipulation and intervention in the currency markets, it will
now also ensure that "a member should avoid exchange rate
policies that result in external instability."


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IMF's Rato sees risk of mkt correction from imbalances

(Reuters) - Rato also said there was a risk that rising protectionism could cut world productivity growth.




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UPDATE 1-U.S. economic growth to slow in 2007-IMF's Rato

(Reuters) - "We will see lesser growth in the United States than in September. We probably see now that number of September going to be reduced but not in significant way," Rato told reporters at a briefing.

Draft figures for global and U.S. economic growth obtained by Reuters earlier this month showed that the IMF was expected to reduce its 2007 U.S. growth estimate to 2.6 percent.


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Zim collapse accelerating - IMF

Zimbabwe's economic collapse is likely to accelerate with inflation topping 5 000% by year-end as President Robert Mugabe's government loses control of a crisis already rippling across Africa, a senior IMF official said on Sunday.

International Monetary Fund Africa Director Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane said Zimbabwe's government had shown little sign of coming to grips with its mounting economic problems, promising more hardships amid sharply rising political tensions.

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IMF urged to sell 400t of gold

A panel of financial states people advised the IMF on Wednesday to sell 400 tons of its gold reserves as part of a new strategy to avert a long-term crunch in its finances.

But the International Monetary Fund should proceed with care in selling any gold to avoid destabilising world markets, the panel members including former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan recommended.

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