IMF board clears its managing director of data rigging allegations during her tenure at World Bank

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Monday cleared its Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva of allegations of data manipulation during her tenure as the chief executive officer of the World Bank.

The World Bank had launched an investigation after “irregularities” in data for its Ease of Doing Business Report for 2018 and 2020 were flagged internally.

Georgieva, who served as the chief executive of the World Bank between January 2017 and September 2019, was alleged of putting pressure on the economic body’s staff to boost China’s ranking in the reports for 2018 and 2020.

The World Bank had discontinued the Ease of Doing Business Report in September last year.

On Monday, the IMF executive board cleared Georgieva of the allegations after conducting a review of World Bank’s investigation in the matter.

“The information presented in the course of its review did not conclusively demonstrate that the Managing Director played an improper role,” the IMF executive board said in a statement. The board said it had conducted eight review meetings on the allegations.

The board also asserted that it was confident of Georgieva’s “commitment to maintaining the highest standards of governance and integrity in the IMF” and that they “trusted Georgieva to carry out her duties effectively”.

The board’s decision was made after a phone call…

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