As
IMF
Spins on
Greece &
Hedge Funds,
No Answers on
Ukraine, Sri
Lanka
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 13 --
The
International
Monetary Fund
under
Christine
Lagarde has
become even
less
transparent,
answering
fewer
and fewer
press
questions.
During the IMF
briefing on
January 12,
the
first one in
four weeks,
Inner City
Press
submitted four
questions,
including
this: "On
Greece, please
describe the
IMF's
engagement
with hedge
funds asking
them to accept
a hair cut:
are hedge
funds
reacting
differently
than banks and
what is the
IMF doing?"
IMF
spokesman
Gerry Rice did
not posed the
hedge fund or
the other
questions.
After
the briefing,
another IMF
spokeswoman
wrote to Inner
City Press:
"We
will get back
to you on your
questions
bilaterally
Matthew. Gerry
had already
responded on
Greece."
But
Gerry Rice had
not responded,
on Greece,
about "private
sector" hedge
funds. On the
afternoon of
January 13,
the IMF put
this out:
"In
response
to press
queries on the
talks between
Greece and its
creditors on
private sector
involvement
(PSI), we are
issuing the
following
line. This is
attributable
to an IMF
spokeswoman:
'We
look
forward to the
resumption of
talks between
Greece and its
creditors. It
is important
that this lead
to a PSI
agreement
that,
together with
the efforts of
the official
sector,
ensures debt
sustainability.'"
While
bland, at
least it's a
response. Here
are the other
three
questions
Inner City
Press
submitted
during the
January 12
briefing,
which more
than 24
hours later
have not been
answered
"bilaterally"
or at all:
On
Ukraine,
what if the
relation
between that
country's
negotiations
with Russia on
gas prices and
the IMF
resuming
talks, after
Ukraine
passed the
bankruptcy
legislation it
said the IMF
wanted? What
else
would the IMF
like to see?
On
Sri
Lanka, what is
the IMF's
response to
Central Bank
Governor Ajit
Nivad Cabraal
statement on
January 3 that
Sri Lanka will
seek a fresh
“follow up or
surveillance
program” with
the IMF as the
$2.6
billion loan
obtained in
2009 is
reportedly due
to expire
early this
year? What is
the IMF's
thinking on
Sri Lanka's
failure to
fully meet
the budget
deficit
targets and
its refusal to
devalue the
rupee?
Lagarde
&
spokesman,
answers on
Malawi, Sri
Lanka, Ukraine
not shown
On
Malawi,
please
describe the
state of the
IMF's
relations with
Malawi,
and reviving a
program with
Malawi, in
light of
recent
statements by
President
Bingu wa
Mutharika
against the
IMF? (he said
on national
radio that
"Malawian
government
officials
should stop
protecting
the IMF at the
cost of their
own citizens..
'protect the
IMF but
protect the
people' and
that of any
officials who
[a]re
unwilling to
do so had to
resign from
their public
posts, 'I will
be glad to
receive your
resignation'"?)
During
the IMF's
briefing in
mid December,
Inner City
Press has
submitted
another
question about
Malawi, which
also went
ignored. The
IMF and
Africa,
under
Christine
Lagarde? We'll
see. Watch
this site.
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