JRL NEWSWATCH: “How the IMF naively parroted Putin’s fake statistics – and botched its economic forecast for Russia” – Fortune

March 6, 2023 JRL Russia List Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Headlines, JRL NewsBlog, Sanctions

File Photo of IMF Acronym on Wall Below Row of Circular Lights, adapted from image at state.gov by Steven C. Welsh :: www.stevencwelsh.com :: www.stevencwelsh.info

“The chorus … claiming the Russian economy has proven vastly more resilient than expected is growing. … The implications are equally disturbing – that unprecedented U.S.-led sanctions don’t work. … Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Far from serving as the independent arbiter of the statistical underpinnings of global economic activity, the IMF has been asleep at the switch. … [I]t is naively echoing Putin’s own invented GDP forecasts, … canonizing and legitimating these economic myths with no verification – in fact, no independent analysis at all. The IMF’s dubious methodology in tracking the Russian economy warrants close scrutiny. … [I]ts institutional credibility is at risk, especially since … current IMF chief[] Kristalina Georgieva[] has been accused of pressuring economists to boost China’s business climate ratings … [while] at the World Bank, which she denies. …”