SBP editorial: Realist Lagarde is the right choice for top ECB role

The decision by Europe’s leaders to nominate Christine Lagarde as European Central Bank president was mould-breaking and unconventional. Mould-breaking because Lagarde will be the first woman to head the Frankfurt-based central bank since it was founded in 1998, unconventional because of her lack of professional central banking expertise.

Notching up firsts is nothing new for the Frenchwoman. She became the first female finance minister of a G8 country in 2007. Four years later, ...