Singapore finance minister tipped to chair IMF panel

Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam could be the next chairman of the top advisory body of the International Monetary Fund.

The finance ministry said Tharman has been approached for the position of chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee.

The Straits Times said the position is not full-time, enabling incumbents to continue in other roles. The committee gives advice on shaping the global monetary and financial system to the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund.

The former chairman of the committee Youseef Boutros-Ghali was Egypt's former finance minister. He was no longer the country's finance minister following a cabinet reshuffle in the political unrest earlier this month.

Tharman will be the first Asian chairman of the committee if he is chosen.

Singapore is currently not a member of the committee but it has been invited to the restricted sessions of the committee in recent years.