“It leaves me neither hot nor cold,” she told AFP. “It will give a bit more time to those who have to look at all the elements of the case (but) it changes strictly nothing.”

Asked if she was still confident about the prospects for her candidacy, she said, “Yes.”

Lagarde is the frontrunner in the race to lead the International Monetary Fund, despite the legal threat hanging over her at home, where she could face prosecution over her role in a multi-million euro business dispute.

Lagarde was speaking in Lisbon, where she was lobbying African governments at a meeting of the African Development Bank to support her candidacy.