Judgement Day For Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, will find out today if she will be put under formal investigation for her role in a payout made to Bernard Tapie when she was finance minister.

Tapie, a supporter of the former President Nicolas Sarkozy, was awarded 400M euros in 2007, in a dispute with the bank Credit Lyonnais.

Lagarde protests her innocence and, according to the BBC, claims that the payout was the best solution at the time.

Suffice to say, given the economic malaise within Europe this issue could not have come at a worse time for Lagarde, the IMF and the global economy.

Lagarde and Greece Wait For The Fat Lady

Christine Lagarde (CEO of the IMF) is quoted by the Telegraph wrt a possible deal being brokered for Greece next week:

"You know, it's not over until the fat lady sings, as the saying goes.

It's a question of working hard, putting our mind to it, making sure that we focus on the same objective, which is that... Greece can operate on a sustainable basis, can recover, can get back on its feet, can re-access markets as early as possible.

That is what is driving the IMF's determination."

In the meantime, hoping to delay the arrival of the fat lady, Antonis Samaras Greece's PM is to go on a tour of the Middle East, China and Russia to try to attract investment.

However, whilst the trip to Qatar is definitely going ahead the other ports of call have yet to be confirmed; not everyone likes people turning up on their doorstep begging for money.