U.S. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) serves as the lead Republican on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy.
Washington, D.C.— U.S. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) is calling for the U.S. Department of Treasury to investigate bombshell findings about data manipulation involving the World Bank’s flagship “Doing Business Report,” which helps incentivize countries to improve their business environment. According to an independent investigation conducted by the law firm Wilmer Hale, then-World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and other senior leaders at the World Bank pressed staff to alter this report amid fears that China would otherwise be displeased with its rating by the World Bank.
At the time, Georgieva was allegedly attempting to convince the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to increase financial support to the World Bank. She now serves as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Representative Barr released the following statement after the report was issued:
“The investigation into former World Bank President Jim Kim’s and former World Bank CEO and current IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s involvement with data manipulation for China’s benefit is alarming. Republicans had repeatedly warned that under Mr. Kim, who was twice nominated for the World Bank presidency by the Obama-Biden Administration, the Bank was more devoted to fundraising and development fads than delivering results for low-income countries that wanted to grow their way out of poverty.
“Furthermore, the investigation’s findings are a wake-up call for President Biden, who has been too busy with virtue signaling on climate risk at the World Bank and gifting billions of dollars in IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to China and state sponsors of terrorism to even nominate an official to head up the Treasury Department’s international affairs unit. He must take these multilateral organizations far more seriously.
“Given Ms. Georgieva’s leadership of the IMF, Treasury should evaluate her actions in the run-up to the IMF’s earlier approval of an SDR allocation, her advocacy for new trust fund assistance involving China, and her ongoing work surrounding the IMF’s governance review, which has implications for China’s influence at the Fund. Ensuring integrity at the IMF is essential.”