While Chinese officials haven't publicly endorsed any candidate, Thailand and the Philippines backed Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam as a possible choice to succeed Strauss-Kahn. Philippine central bank Governor Amando Tetangco said the IMF should consider an Asian candidate.
"While either of those names" -- Mexico's Carstens and France's Lagarde -- "would be well-qualified as the chief of the fund, the IMF Executive Board must seriously consider a candidate from the Asian region," Tetangco said in an e-mailed response to questions.
Kazakhstan has discussed with Brazil, China and India making the nation's central bank chief the emerging-market candidate to lead the fund, Prime Minister Karim Massimov said last week.
Massimov on May 19 announced the candidacy of Grigori Marchenko, chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, via Twitter. He said the prime ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia, supported Marchenko's bid.
"Traditionally it has been a European, and most likely it's going to be a European," Malaysian central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today. Asked whether she would be interested in the job, Zeti cited a recent renewal of her term and said: "I am going to be here in Malaysia. No, it would be a European."