German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she supports French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund.

Merkel said in a speech in Singapore on Thursday, June 2, that Lagarde was the "ideal embodiment" of the economic and political experience necessary to lead the IMF.

Merkel said developing countries should take an "unbiased look" at Lagarde's candidacy to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested last month in New York on rape charges. So far, Lagarde and Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens have announced they are candidates to be the IMF's managing director.