The IMF seeks to close the investigation into Kristalina Georgieva very soon

As international pressure increases for Georgieva to step down as head of the IMF, the Executive Board “Remain engaged in a thorough, objective and timely review.”

In this regard, he clarified that “although he has made significant progress in his assessment, at today’s meeting he agreed to seek further clarification with a view to concluding his consideration of the matter very soon. “

Next week, the Fund’s annual meeting will be held in Washington, and amid this complaint Georgieva will lead the plenary meetings.

A week ago, the board of directors held meetings with representatives of the law firm WilmerHale who are the ones who investigated the alleged anomalies in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report.

WilmerHale’s research showed that the CEO of the World Bank, then Georgieva, set up a “excessive pressure” on Bank staff to improve China’s ranking in the “Doing Business 2018” report. At the time, the World Bank reportedly attempted to obtain a capital increase from China.

The result of this investigation led the World Bank to cancel the Doing Business which had been published since 2003. One of the organizations which came to question Georgieva’s role in this affair was none other than the Department of the Treasury of United States, which he indicated he was analyzing what he termed “serious findings”.

Critics on the matter led The Economist magazine to directly call for Kristalina’s resignation. The arguments they used are entirely reasonable, according to international economists, “the Fund has its own influential research department. It is also the custodian of data standards for global macroeconomic statistics,” the article said.

This week alone, the economic analysis of the members of the Fund (some 190 countries) contained in their traditional report will be published. “World Economic Outlook (WEP)”.

Georgieva’s request to withdraw is based on the fact that there is no doubt about the objectivity of the reports prepared by the Fund, say experts in Washington.

IMF chief Georgieva, at the time, dismissed the complaint, noting that “I fundamentally disagree with the findings and interpretations of the Data Irregularity Survey, regarding my role in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report.”, he expressed in a brief statement.