IF YOU’RE CONSIDERING a bid to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) then you had better get your skates on as it’s the last day for nominations with French finance minister Christine Lagarde still the favourite to land the job.

Also in the running to be the next managing director are Mexico’s Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens and his Kazakhstan counterpart Grigory Marchenko.

The final selection is expected to be announced by the board of the IMF on 30 June.

The search for a new candidate began after former head Dominique Strauss-Kahn quit last month over allegations of sexual assault against a chambermaid at a New York hotel.

He stepped down in order to fight the charges and will face trial later this year.

Lagarde is undoubtedly the favourite for the post.

She is expected to find out today the outcome from an examination by top judges in France of allegations that she abused her authority  in 2008 when she granted a large payout to a prominent French businessman to settle a legal case.

The main candidates are now winding down their lobbying campaigns, reports BBC News.

Lagarde has been in China, India and Brazil, all countries which have expressed some reservations about the IMF candidate always being a European.

Carstens has also been visiting India and is expected to head to the US next week.

Meanwhile, Marchenko is a candidate put forward by Russia and several other former Soviet Republics.

Russia, part of the so called BRIC alliance of countries that includes it, Brazil, India and China, has joined calls for the tradition of a European MD to come to an end given other economies outside of Europe and the US are now becoming more important on the global stage.

Here are the candidates and other interested parties: