“We, the undersigned members of the staff, would like to express our concerns regarding an issue close to our hearts: respect for the rules and procedures that safeguard the technical independence of the staff”, staff members wrote.
The number of signatories equates to roughly 7% of the IMF’s global staff of 2,700. Such requests are rare in the fund’s recent history, according to people familiar with the operations who asked not to be identified.
The move comes after Bloomberg News reported Oct.8 that Fund officials, including Georgieva, who has made climate change a flagship issue, softened the warning about environmental risks to Brazil’s economy after President Jair Bolsonaro objected to the language..
Management’s decision in late July involved the IMF’s key annual assessment, known as the Article IV consultation, for Latin America’s largest economy. Managers initially gave their thumbs up to the staff report on July 30 before reversing it hours later and subsequently removing the disputed wording, IMF officials confirmed when asked by Bloomberg News about the developments.
“Management has assured staff that all fund policies and procedures related to the Brazil Article IV staff report were adhered to and has responded in detail to all questions raised”Gerry Rice, an IMF spokesman, said in an emailed response to questions on Tuesday.
Georgieva’s position at the IMF is under pressure over unrelated allegations in an investigation by the WilmerHale law firm, conducted for the World Bank, that it pushed staff in 2017 to manipulate China’s data under pressure from the government to improve. their classification in a report. Georgieva, 68, denied wrongdoing.
The IMF board earlier this month said that their research does not conclusively prove that Georgieva played an inappropriate role in the report in question, which ranks countries’ business climate.
In the petition, which cites the Bloomberg article on the Brazil issue, IMF staff asked Georgieva if her office was seeking the removal of climate change-related language from the Brazil report, and if this violated policies on sharing. and negotiate staff reports.
“Our main product is known as ‘technical staff report’ for a reason.”the IMF staff noted in the petition. If countries do not agree, “our policies offer several constructive ways to move forward”, but “our policies explicitly rule out negotiating the text.”
Georgieva, in an email to IMF staff seen by Bloomberg News on Monday, said that in the case of Brazil all the fund’s rules and procedures were respected.
“The management team, including myself, played a constructive role, aiming to preserve the integrity of the staff’s work while seeking to understand the concerns of the authorities,” he wrote, referring to the Government of Brazil.
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