IMF favourite in US 'summit'

THE frontrunner for the top job at the International Monetary Fund, former Spanish Finance Minister Rodrigo Rato, will today meet US Treasury Secretary John Snow where he is expected to discuss his plans for the organisation.

Although Rato's appointment as managing director must be formally approved, he appears to have the position in the bag with ringing endorsements from both sides of the Atlantic as well as Latin American and African leaders.

The IMF board will meet to discuss his appointment today. Reports from Washington say two other candidates for the post - former Bank for International Settlements chairman Andrew Crockett and Stanley Fischer, the ex-number two at the IMF - had indicated they did not want to go forward, while a third candidate, former IMF official Mohamed El-Erian, is still formally in the running.