Status: 17.09.2021 1:13 p.m.
Has the head of the International Monetary Fund, Georgieva, intervened on behalf of China in the past? A new report raises uncomfortable questions for the Bulgarian.
An expert opinion by an international law firm raises allegations against the acting head of the International Monetary Fund IMF, Kristalina Georgieva. According to an investigation by the US law firm WilmerHale, during her time at the World Bank, the Bulgarian is said to have campaigned for a report on the international business climate in favor of China.
Specifically, it concerns the management report “Doing Business Report”, which is published once a year by the World Bank. This examines, for example, the question of how business-friendly national economies operate worldwide, how investors are protected, how high the tax burden is for companies or how differently companies are regulated in each case.
According to the law firm, the World Bank was in delicate negotiations with China in the fall of 2017, while the 2018 report was about to be released. In the 2017 survey, which was last published at the time, China only came in 78th, which caused displeasure in Beijing.
Seven places up?
According to WilmerHale’s findings, the then World Bank Director General Georgieva intervened and asked the staff involved in the report to use a different method in order to ultimately achieve a better result for China. According to WilmerHale, Georgievas ultimately ensured that some of the data in the 2018 management report was changed and that China was able to keep 78th place. Otherwise the country would have slipped to 85th place.
Georgieva denied the allegations. She did not agree with “the conclusions and interpretations” of this investigation in any way, she said in a statement at the request of the AFP news agency. Georgieva took over the management of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October 2019.
Report is discontinued
After the manipulation allegations became known, the World Bank has now announced that it will discontinue the publication of the annual ranking, which evaluates the economic friendliness of countries. The institution said it would work on a new approach to assessing a country’s investment climate and business friendliness.