Olli Rehn withdraws candidature from IMF chief race

Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn, on Friday decided to withdraw his name from the list of the candidates for the top position of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Finnish candidate disclosed the decision of withdrawal in a twitter post in the afternoon, although the government earlier extended its support to the candidature of Rehn.

“EU is about to vote on Europe’s candidate for IMF managing director. It is an exceptionally meaningful and motivating job. However, at this stage I withdraw my name from the ballot, so that we can achieve a broad-based consensus for the European candidate, and world-wide support,” said Rehn, also a former EU commissioner for economic affairs in his twitter post.

Earlier, it was believed that Rehn could be the European candidate for the position.

The IMF position became available following the election of Christine Laragde as the Director of the European Central Bank. All chief executives of the IMF so far have been Europeans.

News agency Xinhua adds: Earlier on Friday Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino withdrew and Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno had withdrawn on Thursday.

Rehn told local media on Friday he was not willing to give further comments at this time.

After Rehn's exit, the candidates include former Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva, who works as an executive at the World Bank.

The final choice for the post is up to EU governments. The actual appointment will take place in the IMF executive board.