The IMF's deputy head John Lipsky will attend next week's G8 summit in place of its managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is in jail facing sexual assault charges, host France said today.
The French government's spokesman Francois Baroin said that Lipsky would represent the International Monetary Fund at the top-level summit in Deauville, northwestern France, on May 26 and 27.
Lipsky, an American, was appointed interim director of the global lender following Strauss-Kahn's arrest on Saturday on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid.
He has said he does not want the job permanently.
Meanwhile, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is facing growing pressure to quit as head of the IMF after his arrest on attempted rape charges, as some French politicians expressed outrage over his treatment by US authorities.
The battle to succeed Strauss-Kahn, who is alone in a cell at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail, heated up when China, Brazil and South Africa challenged Europe's long-standing grip on a job that is pivotal to the world economy.
The IMF chief is expected to remain in the jail at least until his next appearance in court on Friday, when his lawyers may again request bail. It could be six months before a trial begins, legal experts said.
A US law enforcement source said Strauss-Kahn was under suicide watch as a precautionary measure.
The IMF said it had not been in touch with Strauss-Kahn since his arrest, but believed it would be important to do so 'in due course'.
Two IMF board sources said the board would ask Strauss-Kahn whether he planned to continue in his post. One of the sources said it would be ideal if Strauss-Kahn resigned.
The second source said that sentiment was not shared across the 24-member board, which has the authority to remove him.
Strauss-Kahn is accused of a violent sexual attack on a maid who came to clean his luxury suite at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on Saturday, and of trying to rape her. His lawyer has said he will plead not guilty. If convicted, he could face 25 years in prison.
In the US, which is the IMF's biggest shareholder, politicians began questioning the viability of his tenure as head of the institution charged with managing the world economy and central to negotiating debt crisis deals.
'I can't comment on the case, but he is obviously not in a position to run the IMF,' US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. John Lipsky, the second in command, is in charge during Strauss-Kahn's absence, but no formal interim chief has been named.
IMF sources said that David Lipton, White House international economic adviser and former deputy treasury secretary, would take Lipsky's deputy position.
Strauss-Kahn's arrest has thrown the IMF into turmoil just as it is playing a key role in helping euro zone states like Greece and Portugal tackle debt woes.
In Europe, Strauss-Kahn was also losing support. 'Given the situation, that bail has been denied, he has to consider that he would otherwise do damage to the institution,' Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said.
Spanish Economy Minister Elena Salgado cast doubt on Strauss-Kahn's judgment, and said it was up to the IMF chief to make a decision on resignation.
But in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy urged lawmakers at a closed-door breakfast to show 'restraint and dignity' and refrain from comment on the Strauss-Kahn case, participants said.
Many French Socialist leaders voiced outrage at the way Strauss-Kahn, who was considered a front-runner for the French presidency, had been paraded - handcuffed and unshaven - by New York police before he had a chance to defend himself in court.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed such a display was humiliating and would be unfair if a defendant were to be found innocent. 'But if you don't want to do the perp walk, don't do the crime,' he told reporters.
'I don't have a lot of sympathy for that. Our judicial system works where the public can see the alleged perpetrators,' Bloomberg said.
Emerging countries are starting to flex their muscle over who should succeed Strauss-Kahn, who had been expected to leave soon anyway to run for French president.
The job has been a virtual sinecure for Europeans. They have held all 10 managing director positions since the fund was created in 1945, and four of them have been Frenchmen.
China said yesterday the selection of the next IMF boss should be based on 'fairness, transparency and merit'. It marked the first time that China, the fund's third largest member, weighed in early and so publicly on an IMF selection debate.
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and a senior Brazilian government official, who asked not to be named, said the next IMF chief should be from a developing country, pressing a case to give emerging economies a greater say in world affairs.
