S.Africa’s Manuel rules out IMF candidacy

Former South African finance minister Trevor Manuel on Friday ruled out standing to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund.

“I decided not to avail myself,” Manuel told journalists in Johannesburg.

“Today is the closing date and I certainly haven’t put my hat in the ring.”

Manuel has been rumoured as a candidate for the IMF post with South Africa and other developing countries pushing for the institution’s next leader to be from an emerging economy but failing to agree on a nomination of their own.

In an interview earlier Friday, he said he wanted to focus on his work in South Africa where he is a cabinet member and heads the government’s National Planning Commission (NPC) meant to plot a 2030 vision for South Africa.

“I’ve just been part of this amazing process in the National Planning Commission. We’ve got to turn this country around,” he told public radio station SAFM.

“My adrenaline is flowing about South Africa right now. It’s where my focus is.”

The vacancy at the helm of the IMF arose after Dominique Strauss-Kahn, seen as a French presidential contender, resigned from the post after being charged with sex offences in New York.

Strauss-Kahn has denied all seven charges against him.

South Africa is part of the BRICS group of emerging economic powers that also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China, which have criticised Europe’s grip on the IMF, but have not put forward a candidate of their own.

The closing date for nominations is Friday.