The World Bank reportedly improved economic data on China

The World Bank suspended work on a report on global business conditions after investigators concluded that the bank's management had forced its staff to change figures for China and some other countries. The bank said on Thursday that it would suspend work on the Doing Business report following an investigation triggered by internal reports of "data discrepancies" in the 2018 and 2020 reports. An investigation by Washington-based law firm WilmerHale concluded that the bank's staff had changed data about China to improve its ranking. According to the investigation, they were forced to do so by the office of the then President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim, the then Executive Director of the bank Kristalina Georgieva and one of its advisers. Georgieva, who is currently the head of the International Monetary Fund, rejected the findings of the law firm. "I fundamentally disagree with these conclusions and interpretations, which relate to my role in the 2018 World Bank Doing Business report," Georgieva said in a statement. The Doing Business report, which examines taxes, regulations and other business conditions, is cited by some governments in an effort to attract investment. China is the World Bank's third largest shareholder after the United States and Japan. The changes made by analysts preparing the 2018 report have pushed China seven points higher in the ranking to 78th place. Data changes also affected the ratings of Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.