Kristalina Georgieva’s fate was highly uncertain when her direct involvement in data manipulation about China at her former employer, the World Bank, was revealed.
However, on Monday evening the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund decided – hours after meeting sessions over the past few days – that the charges against the Bulgarians were not enough. installed. This daily council is made up of 24 representatives of countries and groups of countries that are members of the International Monetary Fund. The United States has the most votes.
According to insiders within the International Monetary Fund, the first woman has received support from France and other European countries. The US and Japan have reportedly urged a thorough investigation into the allegations against them. According to Bloomberg News, the United States finally decided on Monday not to target the dismissal of 68-year-old Georgieva.
The issue revolves around the impactful report Doing Business The World Bank, where investors can read each year how easy or difficult it is to do business in a particular country. In the 2018 edition, China’s numbers have been improved, helping the country to reach a higher position than it deserves. This has been recognized by the World Bank and due to the uproar, the Development Bank recently discontinued this series of publications.
But what is Georgieva’s role? In September, after an independent investigation, US law firm WilmerHale wrote that it was directly involved in this manipulation in the fall of 2017. This put its current position at the International Monetary Fund under strain. The Washington Fund began its own investigation and spoke several times with Georgieva and representatives of Wilmerhill.
“outrageous and untrue”
Georgieva issued an extensive statement last week sharply criticizing the researchers. “The notion that after nearly 20 years at the World Bank, I would suddenly inappropriately pressure staff to turn information into a report is outrageous and incorrect,” she said.
When China found out that it would drop in the 2018 rankings, it responded with dismay. During the same period, the World Bank was looking for additional capital. The lawyers connect the two cases and thus come up with a motive: It was important for the World Bank to appease China. But Georgieva said this motive is wrong because China has long agreed to a capital increase. So the World Bank did not have to request services from China.
Through her staff, Georgieva learned about the plan to improve China’s ranking by including Hong Kong data with China. In this way, China’s position will be greatly improved. In her words, Georgieva thought this was inappropriate and stopped him. According to her, this indicates that she was not at all to push China higher in the world rankings. After that, the staff of the World Bank found another solution to the “China problem”.
Countries regularly react with anger or disappointment when a rating of an organization like the World Bank is published. Georgieva said that is exactly why it should be the result of solid research. Her defense convinced the IMF board.
It is customary for European countries to supply the director of the International Monetary Fund. Georgieva is the successor to French Christine Lagarde since 2019. Her predecessor was French Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He resigned in 2011 after being accused of raping a hotel employee. He was declared innocent and there was no conviction.
Georgieva also worked as director of the International Monetary Fund at the World Bank as an environmental economist in the 1990s. She then held several positions there until she was appointed European Commissioner in 2010. In Brussels, she was responsible for international cooperation and development, humanitarian aid and crisis management for more than four years. She was responsible for budget and human resources for more than two years. At the beginning of 2017, she returned to the World Bank, where she took on day-to-day management as a manager.
Read also:
IMF Director Lost Credibility: She Manipulated a Report on China
Research shows that IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was directly involved in data manipulation in her previous position at the World Bank.
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