Ms Lagarde's initial five-year term as managing director expires on July 5th, and International Monetary Fund executive board member Aleksei Mozhin said he expects the board to complete its selection process by early March.
But Lagarde's popularity among numerous fund's most powerful members-including emerging markets-and her signal last October that she is open to serving a second term is driving many fund watchers to call the selection all but over.
However, she could come under pressure to drop out of the race after she was told to stand trial in France because of a multimillion-euro government payment to a controversial tycoon who supported Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 presidential race.
British finance chief George Osborne issued a statement Thursday saying his government nominated her to stay in the post.
She had proven to be a "far-sighted and successful crisis manager in hard times", the German finance ministry in Berlin said in a statement.
But he expressed strong approval of her performance.
Responding to a question on the outlook for reform of China's state-owned enterprises, she said that despite the size of the challenge, she believed Beijing would deliver such reforms. "I look forward to continuing to work with her". Plunging oil prices can be a boon for consumers and importing countries, she said.
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, left, attends the plenary session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.
"There will be more to say, what they want and whether they want me to carry on", she said.
Lagarde was alleged to have played a role in a payout of some 400 million euros ($434 million) to businessman Bernard Tapie under questionable circumstances.
One potential complication is that a French court in December ordered Lagarde to face trial for negligence when she served as France's finance minister.
Countries normally nominate their preferred candidate before the individual declares their intention to run.
Zimbabwe upset Bangladesh to stay in T20 series
There are some big T20 players in the side and none bigger than Shakib, who will have to take responsibility going into this game. We lost because we didn't play according to the plans. "We had said before that we will test combinations".
