Reforms sought by countries outside the European bloc, which include Australia, appeared to have missed the mark as the International Monetary Fund board voted on Tuesday to seat its new managing director, Christine Lagarde of France, and keep control of the influential financial institution on the Euro side.

Lagarde currently serves as France's Finance chief minister and assumes the post vacated by fellow French Dominique Strauss-Khan, who resigned in disgrace following rape allegations in New York that kept him incarcerated and unable to perform his duties.

Reuters said that Lagarde will commence working on July 5 and first on her agenda is to avert the impending default that Greece faces.

True enough, Lagarde, who cultivated a reputation for being iron-willed and resolute, advised the European country on her first directive as IMF chief that any forthcoming aid will depend on austerity measures imposed upon by the IMF and the European Union.

That means Greece will have to swallow the bitter pill of fiscal discipline and further earn the ire of its population already reeling from the hardships brought by an ailing economy.

The resolution of IMF's leadership seemed to have encouraged the global markets as reports of soaring market shares started trickling in as soon as news of Lagarde's election broke out.

Yet prior to that, emerging markets, including Australia and China, publicly opposed the almost automatic assumption of a European on IMF's top post which led to the nomination of alternative candidate Agustin Carstens, who heads the Mexican Central Bank.

Carstens won the backing of China, Brazil, India and Russia, all economic muscles in their own rights.

In the end though, Lagarde secured the position as she appeased the emerging markets by pledging more high-profile attention to their concerns, thus winning the vote of both India and Brazil.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega summed up the sentiments of his bloc when he declared that their vote for Lagarde is partially hinged on the notion that she will focus on global economic concerns and not only of Europe.

Reuters quoted Mantega as saying that "support is for her to be a manager not of Europe's problems but of the world's."