Thailand sole supporter of Japan's Sakakibara in IMF ballot

Asian Economic News, March 6, 2000

BANGKOK, March 3 Kyodo

Thailand was the only country to join Japan in voting for former Japanese Finance Ministry official Eisuke Sakakibara in an informal ballot Thursday in Washington to select the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), international monetary sources said Friday.

Sakakibara, former vice finance minister for international affairs and a professor at Tokyo's Keio University, ran against German Deputy Finance Minister Caio Koch-Weser and Stanley Fischer, an American serving as acting IMF managing director.

The informal ballot was to see if any of the officials had sufficient support for the post.

Koch-Weser reportedly won 43% of the votes cast in the informal ballot while Fischer received 12% and Sakakibara ran a distant third with 9%. None of the candidates, however, won a majority.

The sources said Koch-Weser garnered support from European countries as well as China and Mexico, while Fischer was supported by developing countries, including Iran, Egypt and Chile.

Despite Sakakibara's distant third-place finish, Japanese government officials said he won broad support, as Thailand represents 12 Asia-Pacific countries on the IMF board.