THE BIG READ: The trials of an IMF powerplayer: Christine Lagarde - the most powerful woman in the world

France’s ‘formidable’ IMF boss must fight to save her career and her freedom, writes Mirren Gidda

Christine Lagarde, arguably the most powerful woman in the world, is six months away from the end of her term as managing director of the trillion-dollar International Monetary Fund (IMF), but when she talks about the organisation it’s clear she considers her work unfinished.

“What I would like to see going forward in the institution is it being more agile, having the ability to harness development and leverage the knowledge which we have in this organisation — which is huge — and make it available to members,” Lagarde says, during an interview at her office in downtown Washington.