BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former French finance minister, is expected to be named on Friday as the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to media reports Friday.

    The 24-member board of shareholder will select one among Strauss-Kahn and former Czech prime minister and central banker Josef Tosovsky who was nominated by Russia.

    However, the appointment of Strauss-Kahn to lead the IMF was assured last week when the United States, the fund's largest shareholder, threw its support behind him, a day before he was interviewed by the IMF board.

    The IMF board will hold a two-stage vote, including an initial secret straw poll which will produce the leading candidate, and a formal vote then.

    The outgoing IMF managing director, Rodrigo Rato, is stepping down in October for personal reasons, ending his five-year term prematurely.

    Strauss-Kahn, 58, has tried hard for the IMF job among the institution's 185 member countries and has promised to implement reforms that will restore the legitimacy of the institution. He has pledged to continue reforms aimed at giving emerging economies a bigger stake in the fund's voting power and to strengthen the IMF's monitoring of a changing global economy.

    (Agencies)