Had I been talking to the next head of the International Monetary Fund in the characterless offices of Spain’s Ministry of Economy in Madrid last November?
As The Banker went to press, Rodrigo Rato, Spain’s first-vice-president and finance minister until March 14, looked like the front-runner to take over from Horst Köhler, who was leaving his post as managing director of the IMF to run for the post of president of Germany.
