New: Kristalina Georgieva's position as IMF managing director is hanging in the balance. She's up before the IMF Executive Board today in what insiders fear could turn into a dismissal hearing. If so it would make her the shortest-lived IMF MD in fund history.
Georgieva's position has been in doubt since an internal investigation concluded she was involved in manipulation of data in a key World Bank report, Doing Business, which favoured China. She denies any wrongdoing. If other things weren't aligned against her perhaps she'd survive
IMF sources fear Georgieva has fallen out of favour with the White House, and given the US has the most votes at the Exec board that is a big problem for her. She may retain the backing of some EU states but most are waiting to see what the Biden admin decides
Among those helping Janet Yellen decide on this is her senior advisor David Lipton. He was formerly Georgieva's deputy at the IMF. She abruptly replaced him with a Trump loyalist shortly after she arrived. He's said to be supportive of her, but this history surely doesn't help...
Georgieva is a polarising figure. Admired and respected by many: others, especially some in the Republican Party, feel she has overreached since taking over as IMF MD, pushing too aggressively on climate and gender policy - not historically core IMF agendas.
Earlier this week I'm told her deputy Geoffrey Okamoto (the Trump appointee) gathered senior execs. Without mentioning KG by name, he gave a long speech about "serious reputational damage" and the need to "repair the damage".
"It felt like a coup," said one person at the meeting.
"It felt like a coup," said one person at the meeting.
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