BERLIN - The German finance ministry believes the next chief of the International Monetary Fund should come from Europe and emerging countries should provide successors in the long term, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The finance ministry spokesman, speaking after Dominique Strauss-Kahn stepped down as managing director of the IMF, reiterated comments German Chancellor Angela Merkel made earlier this week, before the resignation.

"The ministry points to comments made by the chancellor before the resignation that the next (chief) should be European," the spokesman told Reuters.