Critics and pressure increase for Kristalina Georgieva to resign from the International Monetary Fund

Criticism and pressure on the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, for her role in manipulating the data of a World Bank report, when she was number two in that body, continues to increase.

The Economist, one of the most important publications in international economic and diplomatic circles, has already openly called for his resignation, and in its edition this Saturday the no less influential Financial Times returns to the subject, after publishing an editorial yesterday in the one who regrets that the World Bank has decided to stop the publication of the annual report “Doing Business” because of the episode in which Georgieva intervened. In its note today, the FT recapitulates the issue and underlines the unease and questions that the situation causes among the staff of the Monetary Fund, which Georgieva seeks to appease, in addition to the fact that she must overcome any objections. that may arise from the board of directors and the ethics committee of the organization he joined a little less than two years ago.

Georgieva is accused of pressuring World Bank staff to give China better marks and a better position in the competitiveness and business climate ranking published in 2018 and this produced the withdrawal of the entity of its then chief economist, the Nobel Prize winner in economics Paul Romer, which questioned Georgieva’s integrity.

As a former member of the Fund’s board underlined, even if Georgieva overcomes this crisis, it will see its margin of laxity greatly reduced to, in the long term, politically push for agreements with governments whose programs are less than satisfactory. according to the technical evaluation of the orthodox staff of the institution. This could well be the case with Argentina, with which the organization maintains a long and even inconclusive exchange of information and opinions. On the other side, also the Minister of the Economy, Martín Guzmán, arrives weakened by the criticisms and the kirchnériste pressure at what should be the final stage of the negotiations.

In today’s note, the FT reports Georgieva’s firm rejection of the accusation of having been part of a quid-pro-quo, a kind of exchange of favors between the Bank and China in order to that the Asian power, the third contributor, be less reluctant to strengthen the capital of the institution, which in return was more benevolent in the development of “Doing Business” and sought the means to raise its position, from the 85th to the 78th place in the ranking. This exchange, concluded by a private audit initiated by the current authorities of the Bank in the face of the various complaints received, basically concerned the Bulgarian Georgieva and her compatriot Simeon Djankov (name of a Bulgarian patriarch of the tenth century), who is no longer a civil servant. form the bank.

I did not go

“Amid growing calls for his resignation,” says the British newspaper, Georgieva vehemently denies the allegations. Let me be clear; the accusations are false; I have not pressured anyone to change a report, “the Fund manager said yesterday in a statement. His comments came out as the Fund’s board weighed the arguments, accusations and testimony contained in the report. the Wilmer Hale study, which prepared the accusatory audit after an investigation lasting several months and in which he interviewed dozens of officials and former officials of the World Bank.

According to the Financial Times, Wilmer Hale’s report had a strong impact on Washington-based multilateral financial entities. Georgieva said she would explain the matter “soon” to members of the IMF’s board, who have yet to draw any conclusions. However, the FT points out, None of the governments of the Fund’s partner countries, including the United States, have said whether they trust Georgieva’s ability to continue in his current role.

The scandal, according to the British newspaper, sullies both the IMF and the World Bank, shortly after the two institutions held their annual meeting in mid-October.. “Data integrity is something central to our institutions and it has guided my career as a civil servant and I would never be a party to any modification of data for political purposes,” Georgieva said in her statement, in which she also said that in a world facing pressing and complex challenges, “from Covid to inclusive growth, from climate change to racial and gender equality, our work at the IMF has never been more vital.”

In turn, the official admitted that the allegations against her and her initial silence since the release of the Wilmer Hale report had caused unease among Fund staff. “I have strived to be open and inclusive and I am so sorry to hear that some of the staff felt that their concerns were not heard,” Georgieva said. Going forward, she promised, “I will make sure to be even more responsive and responsive to staff perspectives and that there are accessible channels for colleagues to express their views.”

The question now is whether these words will be sufficient.

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