UN
Economists Disagree With IMF & Geithner on China, Bollinger Blind
on US Banks
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 5, updated -- While the International
Monetary Fund and US
officials like Timothy Geithner call for changes in the valuation of
China's yuan, the UN on Thursday said that
economic problems in the US and countries like it cannot be blamed on
China, and defended valuation of currency and capital controls as
sovereign rights.
Inner
City Press
asked UN Deparment of Economic and Social Affairs official Jomo
Sundaram about Geithner's and the IMF's charges, and to explain the
UN's and IMF's differences on issues ranging from India's economic
prospects to the place of capital controls.
Jomo
replied that
the IMF has been ignoring Article Six of its Articles of Agreement,
which he says gives states the right to manage their capital
accounts. He said UN bodies like the Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific, are “closer to governments” that the
IMF, which works from Washington.
Certainly,
ESCAP
chief Noeleen Heyzer has made comments viewed as favorable to the
still military dominated government of Myanmar, and Jomo on Thursday
tossed seemingly gratuitous praise to Sri Lanka, just after a UN
Panel of Experts described 40,000 civilians killed there.
Update of May 7:
Jomo Sundaram has written in that "I only mentioned Sri Lanka to make
the point that rapid growth in South Asia was not just an India story."
Duly noted, although some might also note while it is the IMF's modus
operendi to ignore human rights concerns, one expects has historically
expected something a bit more nuanced from the UN. But duly noted.
Geithner, Obama & Hillary Clinton &
Chinese officials, UN & Bollinger not shown
But ESCAP
was not able to report much data about the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea -- so they are not able to get close to ALL
governments.
Also
at the UN
this week, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger told the press
that there needs to be more journalism in China because “we don't
know the condition of Chinese banks.” One wanted to ask him, what
about the US banks whose dalliance in predatory mortgages led the
whole world into economic meltdown? But the question was not taken. So
it goes at the UN.
* * *
Ready
On
Yemen “Once Situation Allows,” Saleh Test
Unclear, Watching Syria
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April
28 -- With Ali Abdullah Saleh still in power in Yemen,
the International Monetary Fund has said it “would be ready to work
with the Yemeni authorities including by looking at the means of
financial assistance once the situation allows.”
On
April 28, Inner
City Press asked the IMF's David Hawley to “describe the IMF's
interface with Syria and Yemen, and how the crackdowns there may
impact that, and how they are viewed by the IMF.”
Hawley
said
that
the IMF's program with Yemen are “on hold in the current
situation,” and then referred to comments by IMF Middle East and
Central Asia director Masood Ahmed -- who is the one who said, the
previous day in Dubai, that the IMF is “ready to work with the
Yemeni authorities... once the situation allows.”
Does
that
mean a
reduction in violence -- which could be brought about, at least
theoretically, by MORE repression rather than less -- or the exit of
Saleh? The IMF didn't say.
The World
Bank has pulled staff out of Yemen, Robert Zoellick said in response to
Inner City Press' question at the IMF & World Bank Spring Meetings
two weeks ago, click here
for that.
Saleh with UN S-G Ban, World Bank exit and IMF
readiness not shown
On
Inner City
Press' Syria question on April 28, Hawley said that the IMF “like other
observers is following the situation closely” and “deplores the
loss of life associated with unrest.”
In
other answers,
Hawley said Egypt has not yet made a proposal for money, despite
reports of a $4 billion request. He declined to say if the IMF would
consider “going it alone” and arranging its own bailout for
Portugal if European participation were blocked by a veto.
Hawley
dismissed
the
possibility of Greek debt restructuring and denied that Dominique
Strauss-Kahn is going to Athens for meetings. We'll see.
Foonote:
Inner
City
Press timely submitted another question on April 28 which
Hawley neither answered nor even mentioned, and will be writing about
it, but is first waiting to see how and if the IMF responds. Watch
this site.
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