| On COVID Franco
Banks Give Brazzaville More As
Inner City Press Asked of Bribes in Cameroon
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
NEW YORK, SDNY,
Sept 20 – When the
International Monetary Fund
held its biweekly embargoed
media briefing on September,
Inner City Press submitted
questions including on
Belarus, Kenya, Honduras and
Cameroon which IMF
Spokesperson Gerry Rice took
and answered.
Inner City Press asked about
investigations of corruption
in COVID-19 spending in Kenya,
the Cameroon of Paul Biya and
the Honduras of Juan Orlando
Hernandez, and fellow
strongman Aleksandr
Lukashenko's claim to state
Belarusian Telegraph Agency,
BelTA, that the IMF offered
him a "bribe" of $940 million
as Covid Relief Aid, demanding
that he "impose "extreme
lockdown on his people," force
them to wear face masks and
impose very strict curfews,
see below.
Now on
September 20 on Republic of
Congo Brazzaville, this: Banks
like Togo’s
Ecobank and Gabon-based
BGFI Bank agreed a package of
$545.70 million, BGFI’s chief
executive officer Henri-Claude
Oyima said after a meeting
with President Denis Sassou
N’Guesso. “It is
not a question of funding that
is granted directly to the
state, but funding to support
businesses and allow the
country’s economy to revive,”
Oyima said. “This will allow
part of Congo’s internal debt
to be settled."
On
September 10 Rice replied that
while the IMF does require
recipients to follow WHO
guidelines to contain the
virus. On corruption, he
declined to answer country by
country but cited an IMF
online tracker on which we'll
have more. Interestingly, he
said the move of more things
like this online has benefits,
including in fighting
corruption. But we ask,
at the UN?
Back in
July IMF spokesperson Rice
said, "We got some questions
from Matthew
Lee in New
York, including
on Zambia, and he was asking,
what's the state of play?
What's the IMF's thinking?
What does the IMF think the
role of debt to China in the
nation's current
situation? I have spoken
about Zambia recently here at
the podium. In terms of the
current status, yes, the
Zambian authorities have
requested IMF support for
their economic program to
restore macroeconomic
stability, as well has
assistance under our emergency
financing to help address the
human and the economic impact
of the pandemic. I can
tell you, that a virtual IMF
staff mission took place June
22 to July 10 to discuss the
emergency financing request.
Progress was made, but
discussions continue as the
authorities determine their
policies and priorities in the
context of their revised 2020
budget, as well as the
medium-term fiscal stance
needed to restore debt
sustainability, revive growth
and reduce poverty. That’s
where we are on Zambia."
At least
the IMF answers Press
questions. We'll have more on
this - watch this site.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
