French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who is widely backed by the eurozone, is expected to announce her candidacy to be the new International Monetary Fund managing director on Wednesday.
Lagarde has called a news conference for 11:45 a.m. local time (5:45 a.m. EDT), but did not release any further detail.
If she chooses to run and is elected, Lagarde will succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who announced his resignation last week due to sexual assault charges.
If Lagarde decides to run for the top slot at the global lender, her announcement will be just in time for an upcoming G-8 meeting in the French seaside resort of Deauville this Thursday and Friday, where world leaders are expected to talk about the IMF succession despite it not being on the official agenda.
The G-8 countries, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain, and the United States, and also represents the European Union with limited membership privilege, will likely be forced to discuss the succession.
The IMF has promised a merit-based process to replace Strauss-Kahn and gave a June 30 deadline to select a successor.
Meanwhile, French judges said that they will decide on June 10 whether to launch a formal inquiry into Lagarde’s role in a legal settlement, which could harm her chances of becoming the first female head of the IMF, according to Reuters.
Members of the opposition Socialist Party in France accused Lagarde of abusing her power by awarding a 285 million euros ($402 million) to businessman Bernard Tapie, who is a friend and political ally of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in settling a legal dispute with a state-owned bank.
The IMF has always elected a European to head the organization since it was created following World War II.
