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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post

NEW YORK CITY, Feb 11 – When the International Monetary Fund held its biweekly embargoed media briefing on November 7, Inner City Press submitted questions including on Equatorial Guinea, see below.

On January 30, Inner City Press in connection with thee 9:30 am embargoed briefing submitted questions about Luanda Leaks, Cameroon and some other topics, see below. On February 11 on The Gambia, the IMF announced "An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by Jaroslaw Wieczorek, visited Banjul during February 3–11 to take stock of the 2019 SMP implementation and agree with The Gambian authorities on policies underpinning their request for a three-year program that could be supported by an ECF arrangement in the amount of SDR 35 million (or around $US 48 million). At the conclusion of the mission, Mr. Wieczorek issued the following statement:  “Real GDP growth in 2019 is estimated to have reached 6 percent despite the temporary drop in tourist arrivals in November 2019 following the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook (UK) and a much lower agricultural output due to the erratic rainfall. This strong performance reflected The Gambia’s gaining competitiveness as a tourist destination, strong private sector consumption and investment supported by foreign exchange inflows, greater availability of credit, and a much-improved reliability of electricity and water supply. Over the medium term, sound macroeconomic policies will underpin the prospects for sustained growth, the strengthening of foreign exchange buffers, and inflation moderating from an average of 7.1 percent in 2019 to the Central Bank of The Gambia’s target of 5 percent.  “Significantly improved fiscal efforts in 2018 and 2019 helped to reduce the deficit, in major part, thanks to strong domestic revenue mobilization. The public debt-to-GDP ratio declined from nearly 87 percent of GDP in 2018 to around 81 percent of GDP in 2019.... “The mission met with President Adama Barrow, Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Mambury Njie, Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia Bakary Jammeh, Solicitor General Cherno Marenah, Director General for the Department of Strategic Policy and Delivery at the Office of the President Alhagie Nyangado, and senior staffs of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Central Bank of The Gambia, and state-owned enterprises."

   On Luanda Leaks, on January 30 Inner City Press asked, " On Luanda Leaks, what have been the IMF's findings and actions given the evidence that has come out in the growing scandal?" This was emailed before 11 am:

    Luanda leaks     We do not comment on ongoing criminal investigations, trials and leaked documents.     Angola has a three-year EFF program with the IMF. As in other IMF programs, the fight against corruption is an important part of the program with Angola. This involves, inter alia, the strengthening of relevant legislation, such as working on an enhanced AML/CFT law, and other laws promoting stronger governance in public institutions. The effort also involves increased public transparency, for instance the timely publication of certified annual accounts by state-owned enterprises and increased use of the government’s electronic platform for procurement.   

Cameroon     The Executive Board has completed the fifth review of the arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility for Cameroon on January 22. For more details I would kindly suggest to consult our press release here

On November 7 Inner City Press asked: "On Equatorial Guinea, what is the status (and dollar volume) of the IMF's consideration of a program, and the weighing if at all on the length of time Obiang has been in power? "The loan, the amount of which has not been revealed, is scheduled to be considered by the IMF executive board in December."

 From the IMF's November 7 transcript, with video on page: "There's another question from Matthew, which I'll take on Equatorial Guinea, asking what's the status and the volume of the IMF's consideration of a program for Equatorial Guinea and the weighing, if at all, length of time that President Obiang has been in power. On that, I can say that just recently on October 21st, the Equatorial Guinea authorities and an IMF team reached staff level agreement on a three-year arrangement. Again, under the extended Fund facility, which is the more concessional arm of the IMF's lending. The authorities are working on an agreed set of measures that could allow the new program to be considered by the IMF's Executive Board in December. And Matthew had asked about the volume. We're looking at the program that could be supported by approximately $280 million. So, that's four [sic] Equatorial Guinea.  And anything else in the room?"

On September 26 Spokesperson already then Gerry Rice,  for new Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, on Turkey said "this is also from Matthew, he has asked ' On Turkey, what is the IMF's response to ruling AKP deputy chair Numan Kurtulmuş criticizing a meeting between IMF & opposition parties, saying Turkey has "closed the topic with the IMF."'

  Then Rice said it is normal to meet with opposition - except in Cameroon, apparently - and that there has been no indication from the Turkish authorities they are looking for a program.

More here.

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