| On COVID Inner City Press
Asks IMF of Bribe Talk in Belarus Kenya
Cameroon and Honduras
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
NEW YORK, SDNY,
Sept 10 – 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.
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.
***
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