DAWN

Page 33

Development

Economist Magazine calls for Georgieva to Quit IMF over World Bank Data Scandal By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Will Dunham

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE recently called for International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to resign over her role in a China-related data-rigging scandal while at the World Bank, saying it has undermined the IMF's credibility. The influential London-based publication said in a scathing editorial that an external investigation's findings that Georgieva pressured staff for changes to the World Bank's "Doing Business" rankings in 2017 to favor China compromises the IMF's ability to act as the custodian of data for the world's macroeconomic statistics. "The head of the IMF must hold the ring while two of its biggest shareholders, America and China, confront each other in a new era of geopolitical 33

September-October 2021

rivalry," the Economist said, adding that critics of multilateralism are already citing the findings as evidence that international bodies cannot stand up to China. "The next time the IMF tries to referee a currency dispute, or helps reschedule the debt of a country that has borrowed from China, the fund's critics are sure to cite this investigation to undermine the institution's credibility. That is why Ms Georgieva, an esteemed servant of several international institutions, should resign," the editorial said. It cited the allegation in the WilmerHale law firm's report that Georgieva, who at the time was the World Bank's CEO, thanked a senior bank researcher for "doing his bit for multilateralism" in altering the China data. "Now she too should do her bit for multilateralism by falling on her sword," the Economist said. The World Bank's "Doing Business" reports, now canceled, ranked countries based on their regulatory and legal environments, ease of business startups, financing, infrastructure and other business climate measures. Georgieva, a Bulgarian who is a longtime former World Bank economist and European Commission official, has denied the accusations in the WilmerHale report, saying last week they are "not true" and she has never pressured staff to manipulate data. The IMF's executive board is conducting its own review of the allegations and has emphasized "the importance it attached to conducting a thorough, objective and timely review." An IMF spokesman declined comment on the Economist's editorial. A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman also declined comment beyond the Treasury's earlier statement that is analyzing "serious findings" in the WilmerHale report. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/economistmagazine-calls-georgieva-quit-172717843.html DAWN

www.africabusinessassociation.org


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

The History of Congo's Leopard Men Society that Inspired Marvel's Black Panther

3min
pages 112-114

Netfl ix and Disney Have a Major Disadvantage in Africa’s Streaming Wars

2min
page 108

Agoodjie Warriors: The Black Women Amazons that once Protected Benin

3min
pages 110-111

LIN CROWLEY FINE ART

2min
page 109

Meet the Book-Obsessed Entrepreneur

2min
page 101

How Digital Beauty Filters Perpetuate Colorism

12min
pages 102-105

World-Famous Ghanaian Artist Will Be First to Have Artwork Featured in Outer Space

2min
page 100

Tracking the Future of Tennis

3min
pages 98-99

Undefeated: First Black Girl Duo Wins International Debate Competition at Harvard

1min
page 97

Barack Obama to Join NBA Africa as Strategic Partner

1min
page 96

African Languages to get More Bespoke

6min
pages 86-88

The Promise of the African Genome Project

5min
pages 94-95

A $2 Billion Fintech Startup has Become Africa’s Fastest Unicorn

2min
page 82

Covid-19 is Changing the way African Countries are Collaborating with Each Other

3min
pages 92-93

Alphabet’s Project Taara Laser Tech Beamed 700TB of Data Across Nearly 5km

2min
page 83

Welcome to the Age of Wireless Electricity

7min
pages 89-91

Ethiopia to Build Local Rival to Facebook

2min
page 84

3 Takeaways from Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott Teaming up to Fund Women’s and Girls’ Causes

3min
pages 80-81

IMF OKs Big Increase in Funds to Alleviate Pandemic Impact

7min
pages 77-79

A Nigerian Oil Palm Startup Raised $4 Million to Build a “Smart” Factory

2min
page 76

Kenya Hasn’t Figured Out How to Put its Local Founders First

5min
pages 74-75

African Stock Exchange/Bourse

2min
pages 72-73

Remittance to Africa Projected to Decrease

4min
pages 68-69

Conferment of Sierra Leonea Citizenship

1min
pages 70-71

West African Regional Bloc Adopts New Plan to Launch Eco Single Currency in 2027

1min
page 67

Ghana, Hub for Doing Business

4min
pages 63-65

The UK has Committed to Making Africa’s Landmark Trade Agreement Successful

2min
page 66

Lab-grown Coff ee Cuts Out the Beans and Deforestation (and the farmers)

3min
pages 52-53

Moderna’s mRNA Vaccine for HIV is Starting Human Trials

4min
pages 58-59

Pfi zer and BioNTech in Agreement to Manufacture COVID Vaccine for Distribution in Africa

2min
page 56

Kenyans on Twitter (#KOT) Fill Vaccine Information Gaps

1min
page 57

Novavax’s Eff ort to Vaccinate the World, From

5min
pages 54-55

Madagascar is Suff ering from a Climate Change Famine

2min
pages 50-51

This Wildly Reinvented Wind Turbine Generates Five Times More Energy than its Competitors

4min
pages 44-45

Economist Magazine calls for Georgieva to Quit IMF over World Bank Data Scandal

2min
page 33

7 Business Models that will Rule the Next Decade

6min
pages 26-27

Why You Want to be Market-Driven Rather Than Marketing-Driven

4min
pages 28-29

Elon Musk’s new Satellites Could Sneak Internet Past the Taliban

4min
pages 46-47

IPCC Scientists Still Haven’t Cracked Africa’s Biggest Climate Mystery

3min
pages 48-49

Empowering African Women Entrepreneurs

4min
pages 34-35

The Skin Lightening Business is Booming in Kenya—Though No One will Admit it

6min
pages 30-32

7 Easy Ways to Use PowerPoint Templates to Power Your Content Marketing Campaign

11min
pages 16-20

A Bank at Every Corner Store

10min
pages 21-24

21-Year Old Becomes Ghana’s Youngest Female Commercial Pilot

1min
page 25

Betting on a Future 'Made in Cameroon'

3min
pages 8-10

Linktree Partners with PayPal to Allow Users Globally to Accept Direct Payments

1min
page 12

Amazon Inaugurates its First Logistics Centre in Egypt

1min
page 13

Publisher's Message

4min
pages 4-7

Kenyans Lead the World in Peer to Peer Crypto Trade

2min
page 11
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.