No IMF boss job for Donohoe

PASCHAL Donohoe’s hopes of leading the IMF are over after all 27 EU finance ministers, including his coalition colleague Michael McGrath, instead backed sitting boss Kristalina Georgieva for a second term.

A meeting of EU finance ministers yesterday voted unanimously for the Bulgarian economist to remain as managing director of the International Monetary Fund for another five years.

Speculation grew in December that Mr Donohoe, the Public Expenditure Minister, would leave the Dáil to take over the €430,000-a-year role.

At the time it was suspected Ms Georgieva would not seek a second term.

Mr Donohoe, who is president of the Eurogroup of finance ministers in Brussels, was sounded out for the top job.

Reports from Bloomberg suggested he was considering the move to the UN finance agency, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. When asked about the role, on numerous occasions, Mr Donohoe failed to explicitly rule out the possibility of a move, saying he was focused on his job as a TD for Dublin Central, Public Expenditure Minister and head of the Eurogroup.

Ms Georgieva has seen the IMF through a tumultuous period since 2019, in which the pandemic hit and inflation soared.

She narrowly survived a 2021 scandal in which it was alleged that Beijing pressured World Bank staff to change business rankings for China.

Mr Donohoe said in Brussels this week that ‘any speculation about me in the future was always going to be in the context of a potential vacancy by the managing director of the IMF, which I don’t believe is going to happen’.

He added: ‘At the time of that speculation about myself and the IMF there last December, I made the point that my focus was on my work as a member of the Government of Ireland and then as president of the Eurogroup.’

Ms Georgieva said last Friday that she wanted to seek a second term.