Washington (AFP)

The boss of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, was in the hot seat Friday, after the revelation, the day before, of accusations of pressure exerted on her teams, when she headed the World Bank, to modify a report in favor of China.

"Neither in this case, nor before, nor after, I did not put pressure on the teams so that they manipulate the data", however assured Friday the former managing director of the World Bank, to the administrators of the IMF, a reported the New York Times.

"I ask the staff to check, recheck, check three times, but I have never changed, manipulated, what the data tell us", she assured, during this meeting in virtual format, which was planned before the survey was published, and whose agenda was a review of the Indian economy.

The IMF's board of directors had already met Thursday at the request of its president.

She also called for not being distracted by this matter: "it is my responsibility that this does not interfere with the incredibly important work that we are doing," she said.

Asked by AFP, the IMF made no comment, indicating only that the board of directors "is currently studying the situation".

An investigation made public Thursday implicated the leader of the Fund for having, while she was managing director of the World Bank in 2017, pressured teams to favor China in a ranking, amid intimidation and "toxic" culture within the team.

- Integrity of the IMF -

Voices are now rising, alerting to the loss of confidence in international institutions linked to these revelations.

IMF member countries "will have to say if they think she should stay in this post," Nobel economist Paul Romer and former World Bank chief economist, who resigned in January, told AFP. 2018, after disagreements related to this ranking of countries.

The "implication" of Kristalina Georgieva "in the manipulation of data for the benefit of China is alarming", thus reacted Andy Barr, elected Republican in the American Congress, who considers that it is "essential to ensure integrity of the IMF ".

IMF Director Kirstalina Georgieva (l) and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, July 1, 2021 in Washington Nicholas Kamm AFP / Archives

His colleague French Hill said that "the reputation of multilateral lenders is now tarnished" and believes that if the allegations are true, "the IMF board should quickly assess the action" of Kristalina Georgieva at the head of the institution.

The elected official also denounced a new example of "the way in which the Chinese Communist Party systematically works to instrumentalize multilateral institutions".

Relations between China and the United States are particularly strained, since former Republican President Donald Trump waged a trade war against the Middle Empire.

His Democratic successor Joe Biden does not appear to be on the way to signing an armistice.

- "worrying" conclusions -

The ball is now in the court of the United States, whose votes on the board of directors of the IMF - body responsible in particular for choosing the managing director - weigh the heaviest.

They also have a right of veto.

The US Treasury, equivalent to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said Thursday that it was analyzing the report, whose conclusions it deemed "worrying".

He declined to make any further comment on Friday.

Justin Sandefur, of the Center for Global Development, who has widely alerted to the methodological problems of the World Bank's "Doing Business" report and ranking, is quite pessimistic about Kristalina Georgieva's future at the head of the IMF, saying that "for the head of the IMF, having been involved in data manipulation is a rather damning allegation."

He also spoke of "a blow to (the) credibility" of the international institution.

The annual "Doing Business" report establishes a ranking by country of the environment for economic activity and business.

In 2017, China had little appreciated its 78th place.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Beijing November 6, 2018 THOMAS PETER POOL / AFP / Archives

To prevent it from falling even lower in the rankings the following year, and to gain its approval in crucial negotiations, Kristalina Georgieva, as well as the president of the World Bank at the time, Jim Yong Kim, would have wanted to modify the methodology for the benefit of Beijing.

The World Bank has for its part ceased publication of this report.

© 2021 AFP