On
Nepal, ICP
Asks IMF If
Any Debt
Relief, New
CCR Trust
"Possible"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS / DC,
April 30 -- At
the
International
Monetary
Fund's
embargoed
media briefing
on April 30,
Inner City
Press asked,
"In Nepal
after the
earthquake,
will the IMF
use the CCR
Trust? What of
the $54
million Nepal
owes to the
IMF, with $10
million due
this year and
$16 million in
2016? Any debt
relief?"
IMF
spokesperson
Gerry Rice
replied to
Inner City
Press that
"we’re
assessing the
situation,
we’re seeing
exactly what
the needs are.
We will be
looking at all
options and
all
instrumentalities,
all
instruments
that are
available to
us to respond
as effectively
as possible to
the situation
facing the
people of
Nepal. There
are a number
of different
instruments
that could be
used, as you
know.
"There is the
Rapid Credt
Facility, for
example, which
is our zero
interest rate
facility,
provides
financing very
quickly,
limited
conditionality
aimed at low
income
countries
facing urgent
budget balance
or payment
needs, due to
an external
shock
including
natural
disasters. So
that’s one.
That’s one
option. And as
I said, we’re
looking at all
options,
including
potential
availability
under the new
CCR trust."
This CCR was
set in earlier
this year,
limited to
disasters
which
destroy more
than a quarter
of a nation's
productive
capacity,
impact one
third of its
people or
cause damage
larger than
the size of
the country's
economy. How
the IMF will
apply it to
Nepal is not
yet known.
At
the IMF's
annual
meeting's Asia
and Pacific
press
conference on
April 17,
Inner City
Press asked,
"on Vanuatu,
it's said that
even after
Cyclone Pam
the country is
not eligible
for the IMF's
Catastrophe
Containment
and Relief
Trust. Is that
true, and what
could be done
given that
only two
small-island
states are
eligible,
despite high
debts and
storm risks?"
The
IMF's Hoe Ee
Khor replied
that "We have
a mission in
Vanuatu right
now. We are in
the process of
trying to draw
up the
program. The
amount we have
access to is
22 million
SDR. It's
small relative
to the size of
the damage and
the losses
that it
suffered, it’s
true.
But the amount
of money that
the IMF is
able to
provide will
be able to
capitalize
financing
assistance
from all the
other
countries,
especially
Australia, New
Zealand, and
the other IFIs
like the World
Bank and the
ADB.” Video
here.
(SDR
was discussed
at the April
30 embargoed
media
briefing, with
insistent
questions
whether
central bank
independence,
for example in
China, is
considered.
Yes, Rice
said, but it
is not only of
the headline
criteria. The
IMF Board
meeting on it
has been
deferred, as
has an answer
on Syria.
Inner City
Press also
asked about Burundi
and Ghana and
is told
responses are
coming.)
There
is a similar
problem at the
World Bank,
with countries
like Lebanon
and Jordan and
some in West
Africa not
eligible for
financing
needed to deal
with refugees.
And now more
refugees are
being created,
for example
from Yemen.
Back
on March 26
amid the
ongoing
airstrikes in
Yemen, Inner
City Press
asked the IMF
again about
the status of
its program in
the country.
IMF Deputy
Spokesperson
William Murray
said that the
first review
is postponed
until things
clarify.
, 
