No pro-China pressure put on World Bank staff, says ex-CEO
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WASHINGTON • International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva has denied allegations that she pressured World Bank staff to alter data to favour China during her time as World Bank chief executive officer, as the IMF's executive board launched a formal review of the matter.
Ms Georgieva used a previously scheduled meeting with the IMF's 2,700-strong staff to address findings contained in an independent report issued on Thursday on data irregularities in the World Bank's now-cancelled "Doing Business" rankings of country business climates.
"Let me put it very simply to you. Not true. Neither in this case, nor before or after, I have put pressure on staff to manipulate data," Ms Georgieva told IMF staff on Friday, according to a transcript of the meeting provided to Reuters.
Her remarks went further than those she made in a statement issued on Thursday that said she fundamentally disagreed with the findings of the report, prepared by the law firm WilmerHale at the request of the World Bank's ethics committee.
The report found Ms Georgieva and other senior World Bank officials applied "undue pressure" on staff to boost China's ranking in terms of the business climate.
Ms Georgieva told IMF staff that she highly values data and analysis and does not pressure staff to change it, according to the transcript.
The IMF's executive board ethics committee is reviewing the report, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said on Friday. "As part of the regular procedure in such matters, the ethics committee will report to the board," he added.
The World Bank, a Washington-based multilateral lender, was seeking China's support for a big capital increase at the time - an effort that Ms Georgieva, as its CEO, and then World Bank president Jim Yong Kim were overseeing.
REUTERS
