“Very soon” decision on whether or not to keep Georgie as IMF leader

The IMF’s board of directors has accused its managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, of manipulating data from a pro-China statement when she was the managing director of the World Bank.

Following a meeting on Friday, the International Monetary Fund’s Council announced “significant progress” in understanding the issue, but “agreed to seek further details with the idea of ​​reaching a conclusion soon,” a spokesman said in a statement.

The council will meet again on Saturday, an source familiar with the matter told the AFP anonymously that Georgie had received support from France and more widely from European member states.

The United States, a key member of the International Monetary Fund, has so far not allowed its position to be filtered and seemed reluctant to give their consent, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Time is running out when the IMF and the World Bank begin their fall meetings on Monday.

“The International Monetary Fund’s board of directors is currently conducting an investigation and has asked the Treasury to keep a full and fair report on all the facts,” US Treasury spokeswoman Alexandra Lamanna told AFP. “Our primary responsibility is to safeguard the integrity of international financial institutions,” he added.

The question of whether Ms. Georgieva, 68, the head of the international firm, is the head of the international firm was raised in mid-September, from the results of an investigation by law firm Wilmerhail. Conducted at the request of the World Bank’s Ethics Committee.

– “Quick resolution” –

The investigation revealed irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 editions of the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report. Moreover, its authors accused Kristalina Georgieva of putting pressure on her teams when she was the World Bank’s managing director, thus giving China a very positive ranking.

Ms. Georgieva, an economist by training, of Bulgarian descent, categorically denies the allegations against her.

“I have answered all the questions raised by me and I am at the disposal of the Board of Directors as they have concluded the discussions as much as possible so that we can all focus on the important decisions that our member states await at the annual meetings,” he commented in a statement on Friday evening.

On Wednesday, he was asked by the board of directors. He later denounced “false and misleading assumptions made by the authors of the report.”

This survey “(Report) + 2018 does not accurately describe my actions related to doing business, nor does it adequately reflect who I am or how I have behaved in a long professional career.

He called for a “quick resolution” to protect the multi-stakeholder organization, noting that they had important tasks to accomplish “in times of unprecedented crisis.”

Ms. Georgieva took over as head of funding on October 1, 2019, replacing Christine Lagarde, who was appointed to the European Central Bank.

She was the only candidate then.

The publication of the “Doing Business” report was stopped immediately after Wilmerhail’s revelations.

The study, which examines the regulatory framework of countries to find out what is most favorable for starting a business, has been the subject of much controversy, leading to the resignation of the bank’s chief economist. World Paul Romer.