PARIS: The International Monetary Fund's ethics committee and board need to look into a report alleging its chief Kristalina Georgieva pressured staff to boost China's ranking in a flagship report while at the World Bank, a French finance ministry source said on Friday.
Georgieva has headed the IMF since 2019, during which it has seen its role ramped up, distributing around $650 billion in new Special Drawing Rights, its quasi-currency, as part of a drive to help combat the economic damage inflicted by COVID-19.
Georgieva has said she disagrees "fundamentally with the findings and interpretations" of the report, but it has hurt her reputation just weeks before an annual meeting of global finance chiefs.
The results of the independent investigation, published on Thursday, said World Bank leaders including then-chief executive Georgieva applied "undue pressure" on staff to boost China's ranking in the bank's "Doing Business 2018" report.
At the time, the Washington-based multilateral lender was seeking China's support for a big capital increase. The World Bank said on Thursday it would cancel the report series, which has run since 2003, dismaying investors who rely on it to help them assess country risk.
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