WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund takes data integrity “incredibly seriously” and has a robust system in place to ensure the credibility of its data and forecasts, but is always looking for ways to improve, chief economist Gita Gopinath said on Tuesday.
Gopinath noted that the IMF board on Monday expressed full confidence in IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and the IMF’s analytical work, following its review of claims that Georgieva pressured World Bank staff to change data to benefit China. The U.S. Treasury called for proactive steps from the IMF to reinforce data integrity and credibility.
“We will be hearing more about this in the coming days, but again, just to be clear, we have a robust system already at the IMF, in terms of making sure the credibility, the integrity of our data and forecasts,” Gopinath told reporters.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder)
