IMF
Defers to US
on Tapering,
Ignores Qs on
Sudan,
Iran, Areva
& Niger
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 6 --
Money talks.
The
International
Monetary Fund
on February 6
was asked
about the US
debt ceiling,
and about how
Federal
Reserve moves
have hurt
emerging
markets. To
both
questions,
IMF
spokesperson
Gerry Rice
said these are
entirely
matters for
the
US
authorities:
the IMF
wouldn't dare
to make
suggestions.
Of
course, with
other
countries the
IMF does
nothing BUT
make
suggestions,
requiring
raises in
taxes and cuts
in pensions,
for
example, as a
condition for
tapping
assistance.
And
then the IMF
too often does
not even take
questions
about such
countries.
Even Gerry
Rice
acknowledged,
at the end of
the July 6
bi-weekly
briefing, that
he had been
remiss in
taking online
questions from
journalists
not in the
room in
Washington.
(His
solution was
to take a
question on
another
European
country,
Portugal.)
On Ukraine,
Rice said the
IMF is ready
with "support"
for economic
reforms that
would "revive
growth." He
said the IMF
is always
independence,
"as you know."
Inner
City Press
from the UN
submitted
questions on
South Sudan,
Iran,
Armenia,
Romania and
Niger, where
French firm
Areva is being
asked to
stop
under-paying
for uranium.
Rice did not
take this
question; he
also dodged or
deferred a
question about
Christine
Lagarde being
questioned by
French
investigators
on January 31.
In
fairness, the
IMF is not
always
unresponsive.
Two
weeks ago,
just for
example, they
answered
the Press on
Afghanistan.
The blind spot
most often
seems to be
Africa. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
