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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post

NEW YORK CITY, July 19 – When the International Monetary Fund held its biweekly embargoed media briefing on June 27, Inner City Press submitted six questions including on Zimbabwe and Moldova which the IMF answered, see below. On July 19 on Yemen the IMF issued this: "An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Koshy Mathai visited Amman during July 10-18, 2019, to meet with a Yemeni delegation including government and central bank representatives. The team also met private-sector participants. The discussions covered recent economic developments in Yemen, the outlook, and economic policies. At the end of the visit, Mr. Mathai made the following statement:  “Conflict has crippled Yemen’s economy and pushed the country into a humanitarian crisis. A sharp contraction in economic activity and hydrocarbon exports, along with a wide suspension of basic public services, have left some 17 million people in acute need of food aid and other forms of assistance. Public institutions, including the central bank, have been fragmented, contributing, among other problems, to coordination difficulties on import financing and nonpayment of salaries for many civil servants in areas outside government control.  “Macroeconomic pressures have abated recently but remain considerable. Following the sharp output declines of 2014-17, growth has moved back into positive territory, albeit now from a much lower per capita income level. Donor financing and increased hydrocarbon receipts were key factors in quelling last year’s dramatic volatility in the exchange rate and food prices, and basic food imports increased toward prewar levels, supported also by humanitarian aid. The government’s resumption of payments to a large number of workers and all pensioners in areas outside its control was a welcome step toward restoring household purchasing power. We urge the government to pay all civil-service salaries throughout the country.  “Additional donor financing, enhanced revenue collection, and further expenditure prioritization will be needed to maintain economic stability. Despite the expected increase in hydrocarbon revenues, the fiscal deficit will likely remain too large to be financed via non-inflationary means. Spending restraint while protecting priority spending, including transfers to the poor and salary payments across the country, will thus be necessary. Additional financing will also be needed, both to avoid resorting to central bank financing of the deficit and to support essential imports. The IMF is very concerned about the humanitarian and economic costs of the conflict, and is working with donors to urgently finance basic imports and support the payment of public-sector wages and social assistance.  “The government has already made significant progress in rebuilding its technical cadre and improving data collection and analysis, enabling it to take the important step of preparing a national budget for 2019—the first in five years. Further capacity building, however, will be needed and could be supported by donors in a range of areas including central bank operations and supervision, the payments system, and public financial management. Increased transparency and strengthened internal controls would also help build the confidence required to catalyze much-needed financial support from donors.  “Building on recent progress in strengthening administrative capacity, it will be critical to overcome institutional fragmentation and harmonize policy implementation across the country. Strengthened supervisory capacity over the entire financial system, including in terms of further promoting compliance with anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) standards, will also be needed, as will improvements in statistics, public financial management, and other areas. All this would also enhance the absorption of capacity building support from donors, ensuring harmonized upgrading of the central bank systems across all its branches.  “The mission team would like to thank the authorities for the frank policy dialogue and looks forward to continued close engagement."

On June 27, on Zimbabwe Inner City Press asked, "On Zimbabwe, what is the IMF's response to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube saying 'The first order of business is to clear the arrears and then move on to phase two, which is the bilateral discussions with the Paris Club' - asked if Zimbabwe would seek financing from the IMF next year, Ncube said: 'Why not? We can only ask, they can only say no'?"  Camilla Andersen, Assistant Director of the IMF's Communications Department, read out Inner City Press' question and replied among other things that while Zimbabwe has cleared its arrears to the IMF, other debts that would have to be cleared remain. She cited the Staff Managed Program running into 2020 (transcript to come).

 On Moldova Inner City Press asked, "On Moldova, please confirm or deny this from the government: "The head of the IMF mission, Ruben Atoyan, said that the International Monetary Fund had quite attentively monitored the situation in Moldova and that the Fund showed full openness to help Moldova.  ... The resumption of the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and implementation of the provisions of the memorandum of economic and financial policies will allow Moldova receiving the last two installments of the financing program on behalf of the Fund, worth about 66 million Dollars."  The IMF's Camilla Andersen replied among other things that the the IMF has disbursed $112 million under the program and continues to assess (full transcript to come). 

Back on June 13 Inner City Press asked, "what is the IMF's response to JI leader Sirajul Haq criticism of the "budget of IMF purely concentrating only on increasing taxes and prices of essential commodities, and was just read out by its slaves.  He said the budget did not care about reducing the problems of common man and price hike, adding that it was just a jugglery of figures and words which was incomprehensible even to the economic champions of the government."

  IMF Spokesperson Gerry Rice in the briefing said, transcript and video here: "There is a question on Pakistan, from our friend Matthew Lee in New York, asking in summary what is the IMF's response to the criticism of the Pakistani budget which was recently announced that the IMF is purely concentrating on increasing taxes and prices and doesn’t care about reducing the problems of the common man. Again, stepping back, Pakistan has requested a program from the IMF. Last month we reached a staff level agreement on that program so that’s now under discussion. So, I don’t really have a specific comment on the budget.  But in terms of our discussions, I can say that we are talking about broadly how to restore stronger, more balanced growth by reducing domestic and external imbalances, improving the business environment, strengthening institutions, increasing transparency and importantly protecting social spending. So that last part does indeed speak broadly to the point that Matthew is raising, that social spending is and protecting social spending is in fact an important part of the discussion that we are having on a program with Pakistan."

 Inner City Press asked asked, "On Kenya, please state the status with the IMF given reports that the country is "on course to renewing its $1.5 billion standby credit facility with the IMF signing a deal with selected banks to release close to Ksh1 trillion ($10 billion) in loans to the private sector despite the prevailing rate caps."  On the upcoming June 25-26 Bahrain conference on Palestine, given that the IMF has said it "has been invited to the meeting and expects to attend, along with other international financial institutions," please state if the IMF understands that the wider United Nations will attend, and/or has been invited."

Rice said, "There is a question on Kenya. “Please give the status of the IMF program with Kenya given reports that it's on course to renew its standby credit facility.” And on that about all I can say is that negotiations indeed are ongoing on a Fund supported program. I don't have a timetable on that but with the negotiations are underway."

  Inner City Press asked asked, again, for an update on Haiti.

 Rice said, "There is a final question online that I want to take which is on Haiti and asking about developments there and the status of IMF discussions on a program. And again, this is a case where recently there have been protests on the streets and some violence I'm sad to say. So, on that front of course as always, we express our condolences for the loss of life there in Sunday's demonstrations in particular. And, what I can also say is that of course we hope that the dialogue can go forward there and, you know, eliminate the violence that’s taking place and that we can have some consensus around a reform agenda.  On the program and discussions around the program, given the time that has now elapsed since the IMF team reached a staff level agreement, that was back in March. And given the changes in Haiti's' economic situation a reassessment of the economic framework and of the measures needed to stabilize and support the economy is going to be needed before we would be in the position to propose a program to our executive board. That said, we look forward to engaging with Haiti's new government as soon as feasible to find the best way forward and to protect the most vulnerable groups, improve governance and secure macroeconomic stability. So that’s where we are on Haiti."

  It's appreciated.

On May 23 Inner City Press asked, "what is the IMF's response to / comment or explanation on  the May 15 letter addressed to Congolese Prime Minister Clement Mouamba that "The advisers to the Republic wish to make you aware of the major risk of the programme’s rejection by the IMF’s board,” said Congo hired French financial advisers Lazard and more recently Parnasse, a firm employing former IMF Managing Director Dominique Stauss-Kahn, to assist it in the negotiations with the Fund. How is this not a conflict of interest?"

  IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice to his credit took the question, on camera, emphasizing that the discussion have been only between IMF staff and the authorities, no one else. He said that address the conflict of interest question. He also noted the IMF's May 9 announcement of a staff level agreement. But when will it go to the Board?

 On Barbados, Inner City Press asked for "   the IMF's response to Senator Crystal Drakes saying  that the Mia Mottley administration may have hit the benchmarks set under the IMF-sanctioned Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation programme but is ignoring it’s sustained and impending collateral damage to the society.  “All of this has come at a social cost. Meeting those targets have been economic winds but socially we have paid a serious price for meeting those targets.  “In reducing our debt and closing the fiscal gap, Barbadians had to give up their wealth, particularly the vulnerable group of pensioners.  “Their disposable income through higher taxes and user fees, has resulted in persons falling below the poverty line.”

  Rice said the IMF's discussions had been with social partners including the unions and that the floor for social spending had been met, by an ample margin, in December and March.

  As China uses its Belt and Road Initiative to take over ports in Sri Lanka and prospectively Kenya, while using supposed NGOs to bribe UN officials including bidding on an oil company owned by Gulbenkian Foundations whose payments to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres were omitted from his public financial disclosure covering 2016....

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