WASHINGTON: The executive board of the International Monetary Fund will meet very soon to discuss the selection process for a new managing director to replace Christine Lagarde, who has been nominated to head the European Central Bank.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice gave no exact date for the meeting or the timeline for a decision, but said the Fund's executive board would meet very soon.

"As in the past, we expect this process to be open, transparent and merit-based," he told reporters at a regular IMF briefing in Washington.