He also claimed that Georgieva, now the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and a key adviser pressured staff to “make specific changes to China’s data points” and improve its ranking at a time when the bank was seeking Beijing’s support for a large capital increase.
China’s ranking in the “Doing Business 2018” report, released in October 2017, rose seven spots to 78th after the data methodology changes were made, compared to the initial draft report.
The Doing Business report assesses regulatory environments, ease of starting a business, infrastructure, and other measures of the business climate.
“I deeply disagree with the findings and interpretations of the data irregularity investigation as it relates to my role in the 2018 World Bank Doing Business report,” Georgieva said in a statement issued by the IMF. He added that he had met with the IMF’s executive board to discuss the matter.
The WilmerHale report also cited irregularities in the data used to determine the rankings of Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan in the “Doing Business 2020” report published in 2019, but found no evidence that any member of the Office of the President or the executive board of the bank were involved in these changes.
“Moving forward, we will work on a new approach to assessing the business and investment climate,” the World Bank said in a statement.