IMF Chief Called Out on Pressure to Lift China Ranking in Report

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was called out Thursday by the World Bank, her previous employer, for applying pressure to boost China’s position in a ranking of economies.

Georgieva said she disagreed with the findings, compiled by an outside law firm at the World Bank’s direction.

The World Bank found such serious ethics issues in its probe of the “Doing Business” report that it decided to abandon the series entirely, a statement released in Washington showed.

Kristalina Georgieva

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

China’s position in the 2018 report, released in October 2017, should have been seven places lower -- at No. 85 rather ...