IMF expresses 'complete confidence in the leadership of Kristalina Georgieva

October 13, 2021: -The International Monetary Fund decided to keep Kristalina Georgieva as its managing director despite accusations she influenced a report to favor China while at the World Bank.

The IMF Executive Board held a meeting on Monday to review allegations that Georgieva had pressured staff to help improve China’s rankings in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” rankings.

“Having looked at all the evidence presented, the Executive Board reaffirms its full confidence in the Managing Director’s leadership and ability to continue to carry out her duties effectively,” the IMF said in a statement following its review.

The fund said the information presented in the review “did not conclusively demonstrate that the Managing Director played an improper role.”

Separately, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that without “further direct evidence about the role of the Managing Director, there is not a basis for a change in IMF leadership.”

Georgieva has been the IMF’s boss since Oct. 2019.

Before that, she worked as chief of the World Bank since 2017. In this capacity, a report, conducted by law firm WilmerHale and requested by the bank’s ethics committee, said she is influencing the outcome of some significant research to make China look better.

WilmerHale said in September that during her time at the World Bank, “Georgieva became directly involved in efforts to improve China’s ranking [in the Doing Business Report].”

The “Doing Business” report is a flagship piece of annual research at the World Bank that assesses how friendly a nation is for business activity.

In the 2018 report, China was initially ranked 85, but after influence from within the leadership team and interventions from Beijing, the country ended up in 78th place, according to the WilmerHale assessment.

In a statement on September 16, Georgieva said: “I disagree fundamentally with the findings and interpretations [of the WilmerHale report].”

Countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and the U.K. reportedly backed Georgieva to remain as leader of the IMF. However, some officials in the United States were a bit more skeptical.