SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 31 – When the
International Monetary Fund
held its biweekly embargoed
press briefing on March 31,
Inner City Press asked about
Sri Lanka and Haiti. On Sri
Lanka it asked for "an update
and what is the IMF's view of
the Rajapaksa government
imposing import restrictions
on 367 items such as fruits,
milk products and fish in a
bid to tackle the foreign
exchange shortage?"
IMF
Spokesperson Gerry Rice
replied that the negotiations
with Sri Lanka will take place
in the coming days, including
with the Finance Minister's
anticipated presence at the
April IMF-World Bank Spring
Meetings in DC, which Inner
City Press will also be
covering. Rice referred to the
IMF's February 25, 2022
statement.
On Haiti, which Inner
City Press also covers in
relation to the UN's failures
there including introducing
cholera and paying nothing for
it, Rice said the IMF has been
the number one provider of
external finance to the
country since 2019 and said
more information is coming.
Watch this site, and video here. Now, the IMF
transcript:
Let me turn to
Matthew. I see your hand up.
Matthew Lee in New York. Nice
to see you, Matthew.
QUESTIONER: Sure,
thanks a lot. And I'll try to
be as crisp as Lalit. I'm not
sure if I can do it, but I
wanted to ask you about Sri
Lanka. It's much in the news.
There's a lot of the --
there's some serious economic
turmoil there. Talk of the,
you know, IMF program and
trying to address foreign
exchange issues. What's the
status between the IMF and Sri
Lanka and what do you think of
the moves that Raja Baksa
government has been taking.
And also, I just wanted to ask
about Haiti, the same, maybe
even turmoil beyond economic
there. What's the status of
both that relief and of IMF
programs in Haiti. Thanks a
lot.
MR. RICE: Hey,
thank you, Matthew. Two
questions on Sri Lanka and on
Haiti. You're not the only one
interested in Sri Lanka.
Matthew, I'm seeing Julia
Hollingsworth from CNN weigh
in. Nice to see Julia join us.
On Sri Lanka's economic
crisis, I'm keen to get a
comment from the IMF about
what requests it's had and
what it's planning to do to
help with the economic crisis.
And, I'm seeing Paneetha
Ameresekere. Hi, Paneetha.
Ceylon Today is also joining
us, asking pretty much the
same question Matthew --
around the same question as
you and Julia. Sri Lanka and
talks with the IMF, what's the
economic outlook for the
country. I'll try to be
brief. On Sri Lanka, we issued
a fairly comprehensive
statement. I don't know if you
saw it, Matthew, the other day
-- well, actually the other
month, February the 25th -- on
the Article IV consultation or
staff report we published.
It's got a lot of detail. So,
I'll refer you and others to
that and I won't repeat all
that's in there. Instead, I'll
just try to tell you where we
are. The Sri Lankan
authorities have expressed
interested in an IMF support
and financial program. The
answer is yes. On the status
of that discussion, we plan to
in initiate those program
discussions with the Sri
Lankan authorities including
during the Finance Minister's
visit to Washington in April.
So, we plan to initiate those
discussions pretty much in the
coming days and that will
include during the expected
visit of the Finance Minister
of Sri Lanka to Washington for
our spring meetings in
April. On the economic
outlook, again, I will refer
you to that February 25th
statement. I'm just looking at
it. It's fairly detailed
including a table of all
selected indicators. But, we
will be updating the
macroeconomic forecast and
that will come in the wheel
that I mentioned earlier in
April. So, that's about as
much as I have on Sri
Lanka. Matthew, you
asked about Haiti. We remain
engaged with Haiti. We've been
the -- as you may know,
Matthew -- we've been the main
source of external financing
to Haiti, the IMF, since 2019.
We provided financial
assistance equivalent to about
$365 million under our rapid
credit facility, the
containment and catastrophe
containment and relief trust,
that's debt relief, and an SDR
allocation, all to Haiti in
recent times. After
adequate steps were taken to
improve governance in the area
of procurement during 2021,
funds staff held discussions
this month with the Haitian
authorities on what we call a
staff monitor program. Many of
you are familiar with that.
It's a program that does not
come with specific financing,
but it aims to help the
country get on the right
macroeconomic path and to
mobilize revenues and address
reforms needed in key
sectors. Matthew, I can
give you a bit more detail if
you want it on the key policy
objectives that underpin that
SMP, that Staff Monitored
Program. I won't do it now in
respect to others asking
questions, but we can give
you, easily and immediately,
further detail if you want to
follow up after this briefing,
okay? Thank you. Thanks for
the questions.
Inner City Press:
Thanks, definitely call on
others, they have questions
too.
MR. RICE: Thank
you, Matthew. Really
appreciate your great
collegiality. I want to turn
to Delphine of AFP.
Back on
March 17 on South Africa Inner
City Press asked about the
critique of the IMF and its
program by the Economic
Freedom Fighters. Rice said
the IMF is in dialogue with
them and other civil society
groups.
On the widely (mis)
reported suspension at the UN
of Russia's Alexei Mozhin from
a role in the IMF, Rice said
it is from a ceremonial role
only.
Back on
February 10, Inner City Press
asked Rice about
crypto-currency in El Salvador
and the arrest that week of
Bitfinex hackers / launderers
Lichtenstein and Morgan, as
well as about Ghana.
Inner City Press
asked: "On bitcoin and El
Salvador, after the IMF's
recommendation on removing
Bitcoin’s legal tender status,
what is the IMFs' response to
Treasury minister Alejandro
Zelaya saying that “no
international organisation is
going to make us do anything,
anything at all... Countries
are sovereign nations and they
take sovereign decisions about
public policy," and separately
to a published theory that as
the world’s lender of last
resort to sovereign nations,
the IMF is looking to have
fewer, not more, borrowers?" -
and about Lichtenstein.
Rice on
the question of whether the
continued use of Bitcoin would
preclude a program with El
Salvador said these things
need to be discussed. Inner
City Press also asked, "On
Ghana, what are the IMF's
communications with / thinking
on the country given reports
that Ghana’s downgrade by
Moody’s leaves the government
needing to agree a package
with the IMF to achieve policy
credibility?" Rice said there
has been no Ghana request, but
the IMF stands ready. He also
answered on Tunisia and El
Salvador, on which Inner City
Press also asked questions.
Previously, from
IMF transcript of Dec 16,
2021: Matthew Russell Lee,
Inner City Press: I've asked
you a number of times about
cryptocurrency in El Salvador.
You've given, you know, the
answers that you've given. I
saw that the chief economist
said, at least to me,
something that seems slightly
different saying developing
economies should regulate it,
rather than try to ban
cryptocurrency. I just wanted
to ask you, maybe is there a
new position on this? Is there
something -- can you say a
little bit more particularly
how it might apply to what's
been said thus far about El
Salvador. And also on --
I just -- I'm sure everyone
has seen the spat between
Brazil and the IMF. Where does
that stand? Is it, I guess, is
the current status that the
IMF is going to leave the
country in June of next year?
And what more can you say
about it in response? Thanks a
lot.
MR. RICE: Thank
you. So on crypto currencies,
El Salvador, and so on, your
first question, your quite
right. We did issue a blog
actually last week from our
monetary and financial
counselor, Tobias Adrian
(phonetic) and colleagues. And
you're quite right to
characterize it the way you
did, Matthew, which was a call
a strong call for regulation
in the realm of
cryptocurrency. So, so that's
quite right. On El
Salvador specifically, our
view has not changed. We
support the authority's
efforts to boost financial
inclusion and raise growth,
but the risks arising from
using bitcoin as legal tender
need to be addressed. Crypto
technologies and digital
payment systems have the
potential to make payments
more efficient, but given
bitcoin's high price
volatility, its use as legal
tender entails significant
risks to consumer protection,
financial integrity, and
financial stability. And
it’s used also gives rise to
fiscal contingent liabilities.
So, our view on what we've
said about El Salvador and
bitcoin specifically, being
used as legal tender, our
views there have not changed.
I'm essentially, as you know,
probably repeating,
reiterating what I've said
here before. On your
question about Brazil, the IMF
agreed with the Brazilian
authorities to close the IMF
representative's office in
Brasilia by June 30, 2022,
which is what you were saying.
And that's when the term of
the current IMF representative
expires. So, like with many
other member countries, the
office in Brazil was opened
during the time when we had a
significant financial
arrangement with Brazil. That
was its initial purpose. And
while that IMF arrangement
with Brazil finished, the
office was kept open to
facilitate dialogue between
Fund staff and the
authorities, this has
happened. This has been
the case also with a number of
other countries in the past.
You know, we would open an
office particularly at the
time of crisis, at a time when
there's a financial
arrangement. And then over
time we close the office. So,
this has happened in the past.
I would want to emphasize that
we expect the high quality of
the Fund's engagement with the
Brazilian authorities to
continue as we work closely to
support Brazil in
strengthening its economic
policy and institutional
settings. So, that would be my
comment on Brazil. Thank you
very much, Matthew.
In November,
Inner City Press asked about
Ethiopia and Tigray, Chad and
its Glencore debt, and the
IMF's status with Zambia.
Spokesperson Gerry Rice
responded on each. Podcast here.
Short video of Q&As on
Twitter here.
IMF video here
Back on January 8
Inner City Press asked the
IMF's Helge Berger, Mission
Chief, about China's so-called
Belt and Road Initiative:
"Your Article IV report cites
China's "overseas lending
projects" amid "rising
geopolitical tensions and
economic and trade frictions."
How does the IMF think that
rising debt levels among
African countries, and
increased skepticism about the
"Belt and Road" will impact or
be addressed going forward?
-Matthew Russell Lee, Inner
City Press. Video here.
(An aside: Inner
City Press has
reported on
the CEFC China
Energy Fund
Committee's
activities in
Chad and
Uganda and in
the UN, on
which the UN is
UNresponsive.)
Other questions
included
China's digital
currency (Inner
City Press also reports
on
crypto-currency
cases in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York and
elsewhere).
Berger said
when used
overseas an
issue is that
residents
could start
using another
country's
currency, if
it is easier.
We'll have more
on this.
***
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