Paschal Donohoe considering bid to become next head of IMF – report

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe is considering a bid to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bloomberg News has reported.

The current term of IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva ends in September 2024.

Mr Donohoe (49), the Fine Gael TD for Dublin Central, served as Minister for Finance from 2017 to 2022. He has led the Eurogroup — the body of European finance ministers — since mid-2020, having been elected late last year for a second term.

While no candidate has put forward their name yet for the IMF role, sources told Bloomberg that Mr Donohoe is holding preliminary conversations over the matter.

A spokeswoman for Mr Donohoe told Bloomberg that he is “fully focused on his current work and responsibilities in Ireland and in the Eurogroup and committed to serving his full mandate. He will also be a candidate in the next election in Ireland.”

An IMF spokesperson said Ms Georgieva’s attention “is on helping the membership of the IMF face the pressing economic challenges that the world is grappling with.”

The IMF is a United Nations agency and financial institution funded by 190 member countries, with headquarters in Washington DC. It is regarded as the global lender of last resort to national governments.

Ireland itself was under an IMF lending programme just over a decade ago, alongside other euro zone peers during the debt crisis.