IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that it still hasn't reached a decision on whether its Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, accused of manipulating data in favor of China, will keep her job.

An investigation into the matter concluded that Georgieva manipulated data in favor of China in the 2018 edition of the World Bank’s widely followed Doing Business annual report, while she was the IMF’s Executive Director.

The IMF Board met again with representatives of the firm that conducted the investigation, WilmerHale, and with Georgieva over the weekend, announcing achieving "further significant progress today (Sunday) in its assessment with a view to very soon concluding its consideration of the matter."

The law firm found that Georgieva, along with others, pressured staff to change the calculation of China's ranking to avoid angering Beijing.

Georgieva on Wednesday called the accusations that she pressured staff to make inappropriate data changes “outrageous and untrue” and said some of her statements were taken out of context by WilmerHale. She publicly released her lengthy statement to the board on Thursday.

“Ms. Georgieva has never been notified that she is a subject of the investigation, or been given an opportunity, as guaranteed by Staff Rule 3.00 to review and respond to the report’s findings,” wrote her attorney.

Three meetings were held this week, on Wednesday and Friday, and again on Saturday, to discuss the fate of the IMF Managing Director, who is accused of involvement in irregularities in the drafting of the Doing Business report issued by the World Bank for the years 2018 and 2020.

It is worth noting that Georgieva assumed her position as managing director of the IMF on October 1, 2019, succeeding Christine Lagarde, who was appointed as the head of the European Central Bank.