IMF backs managing director following review of business ranking allegations

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (AP)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed “full confidence” in its managing director in response to allegations that World Bank staff were pressured to change business rankings for China in an effort to placate Beijing.

The IMF’s 24-member executive board said in a statement that its review “did not conclusively demonstrate that the managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, played an improper role” in the situation in her former role as a top official of the World Bank.