| IMF Approves $47M for The
Gambia Citing Coronavirus As Spring Meetings
Go Virtual
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 3 –
Before the International
Monetary Fund's February 13
embargoed briefing,
Inner City Press asked the IMF
to confirm or deny something
in the crypto-currency media,
that "IMF ADVISES EASTERN
CARIBBEAN STATES TO TRIAL
DIGITAL CURRENCY."
Inner City Press
covers not only the IMF but
also all things crypto in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
for example SEC
v. Telegram and the
prosecution of Virgil
Griffith formerly of
Ethereum. See below.
On March
23, after making its upcoming
Spring Meetings virtual
because of Coronavirus, the
IMF issued this about Gambia:
"The Executive Board of the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) approved a
thirty-nine-month Extended
Credit Facility arrangement
for The Gambia in the amount
of SDR35 million (about
US$47.1 million, or 56.3
percent of The Gambia’s quota
in the Fund) today. The
ECF-supported program aims to
anchor macroeconomic stability
and progress on structural
reforms achieved under the
2019 Staff Monitored Program
(SMP) and would provide a
framework to assist the
authorities in developing and
implementing effective policy
responses to address the
COVID-19 challenges."
Back on February
13 Inner City Press asked the
IMF, "It is reported that to
the Eastern Caribbean Currency
Union, the IMF suggests to
experiment with a common
digital currency, on a
blockchain. Can you
elaborate?"
While IMF
spokesperson Gerry Rice during
the briefing answered
Inner City Press' Somalia and
Egypt questions, it was
afterward that this answer
arrived by e-mail,
"attributable to Gerry Rice,
IMF Spokesman and Director of
Communications:
'The IMF did not
suggest to experiment with a
common digital currency. In
March 2019, the Eastern
Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
launched a central bank
digital currency pilot
project, using blockchain
technology, on its own
initiative.
As noted
in the IMF Concluding
Statement of the 2019
discussion on the common
policies of the Eastern
Caribbean Currency Union
(ECCU) member countries, the
digital currency could expose
the ECCB and the financial
system to various risks,
including for financial
intermediation, financial
integrity, and cybersecurity.
Given these risks of the
digital currency, the IMF
stressed that the ongoing
pilot project should proceed
cautiously.”
So there. (A
OneCoin / Bulgaria question
remains outstanding). We
appreciate the IMF's answer.
Watch this site, for IMF news
and... all things crypto,
good, bad and ugly.
***
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