IMF board meets with Doing Business auditors



10/05/2021 8:29 AM


Representatives of the law firm conducting the audit into China's possible over-reporting in the World Bank's Doing Business rankings have met with the board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Gerry Rice, a spokesperson for the fund.



Brandon Payne via flickr
He said the board was interested in a thorough, objective and timely investigation. Recall that irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 reports led to the termination of the reports

"The IMF board today met with representatives of law firm WilmerHale as part of the ongoing review of the issues raised in the WilmerHale investigation into the World Bank's 2018 Doing Business report," Mr. Rice was quoted on the IMF website as saying. 

He also noted that representatives of the firm would later meet with the executive director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva; she was an executive director of the World Bank at the time of the changes that saw China’s rise in the Doing Business rankings.

The World Bank suspended publication of the Doing Business rankings in 2020, citing "inaccuracies" in the 2018 and 2020 rankings due to methodological irregularities. In 2021, the bank's supervisory board said the investigation found "distorting adjustments" that changed the positions of China, the UAE, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. Ms. Georgieva denies the report's arguments about her pressure on staff.

source: imf.org


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