SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 10– When the
International Monetary Fund
held its biweekly embargoed
press briefing on May 10,
Inner City Press asked about
crypto-currency and El
Salvador, and COVID-19 lack of
transparency in Cameroon
(including US visa sanctions
amid crackdown in Anglophone
zones) and Tanzania. Interim
videos here (crypto) and here
(Cameroon), IMF video and
transcript forthcoming.
Spokesperson Gerry Rice
responded on each.
Inner City Press
asked, "On El Salvador and
crypto, what is the IMF's
response to and/or comments on
the moves from the country's
president to make Bitcoin
legal tender?" For the IMF,
Rice expressed legal and
financial concerns about
crypto, then deferred to a
meeting with El Salvador's
president later in the day.
Inner City Press
followed up, beyond El
Salvador, on the IMF's legal
concerns, asking if for
example the move by the US SEC
to require Ripple / XRP to
register would alleviate any
of those concerns. Rice said
regulation is needed. More to
follow.
Inner City Press
asked asked, "On Tanzania and
COVID-19, with the government
saying it has revived its
request for RCF program from
the IMF, and the IMF's Jens
Reinke being quoted that "in
order to justify emergency
financing in the context of
the pandemic, you need to
publish relevant public-health
data," please state the
current status of the IMF's
process with Tanzania, and
more generally the minimum
level of data reporting that
the IMF would require." Rice
said the IMF mission in
ongoing, and declined to
confirm that the requested RCF
program size is $571 million,
as the finance minister said.
On
Cameroon, Inner City Press
asked not only about the
recent (and belated) US visa
sanctions but also alleged
corruption in COVID-19
spending. The IMF's Rice noted
the investigation, and said
that beneficial owners of
those given procurement
contracts should be disclosed.
Again, more to follow.
Watch this site.
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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