Washington (AFP)

The maintenance, at the head of the IMF, of Kristalina Georgieva, accused of irregularities, remained in suspense Sunday evening, after a new meeting of its governing bodies on the eve of the opening of the institution's autumn meetings.

The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund, which believes it has made "other significant progress" in understanding this issue, could meet again Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, after a series of meetings this week.

The board, which has 24 members representing 190 countries, usually makes decisions by consensus.

The objective is "to conclude very soon the examination" of this file, explained a spokesperson in a statement Sunday evening very similar to that published two days earlier.

Even if the management of the IMF were to renew its confidence in her, the managing director, a 68-year-old Bulgarian, would emerge weakened from this affair which erupted with the publication, on September 16, of the conclusions of an investigation by the cabinet of 'WilmerHale lawyers.

This investigation revealed irregularities in the drafting of the 2018 and 2020 editions of the World Bank's "Doing Business" report.

And its authors accused Kristalina Georgieva of putting pressure on her teams when she was managing director of the World Bank so that China obtained a more favorable ranking.

This survey was carried out at the request of the World Bank's ethics committee when this report, which ranks countries according to their ease of doing business, was the subject of much controversy and had led to the resignation from the former chief economist, Paul Romer.

The lack of decision throws a cold on the meetings of the Fund and the World Bank which start on Monday.

Mrs Georgieva is due to speak during a round table on the theme: reinventing the workplace for women.

But it is above all his press conference on Wednesday that is now eagerly awaited.

The IMF's Board of Directors heard from Ms. Georgieva and representatives of the WilmerHale cabinet in turn.

But the fate of Kristalina Georgieva, who fiercely denies the allegations against her, divides the members of the IMF.

On the one hand, Europe and Africa want it to be maintained.

On the other hand, the United States and Japan are for the time being reluctant to see her continue her functions, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

Six former World Bank officials, in a statement released by a public relations agency retained by Kristalina Georgieva, defended her recently, calling her "a person of the greatest integrity and committed to development."

- Integrity of institutions at stake -

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, has estimated in the Financial Times that his removal "would be a dangerous and costly capitulation to anti-Beijing hysteria", alluding to the fact that Washington accuses China's interference in international institutions.

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank, for his part called the efforts to impeach her as a "coup" and the WilmerHale report as a "demolition undertaking", in an article published on Project Syndicate, online opinion media.

Her supporters also highlight her record during the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the leader having worked to help the most vulnerable countries.

A spokeswoman for the US Treasury, Alexandra LaManna, explained this week that "the responsibility" of the United States was "to preserve the integrity of international financial institutions" which provide benchmark economic data.

The IMF is therefore due to publish its latest global economic outlook on Tuesday.

Ms. Georgieva took over as head of the Fund on October 1, 2019 to replace Christine Lagarde who had been appointed to the European Central Bank.

She was then the only candidate.

The Fund is traditionally run by a European while the World Bank is in the hands of an American, currently David Malpass.

© 2021 AFP