By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 13 --
Who to believe
on when Ebola
will be under
control: the
UN or the
International
Monetary Fund?
Or are the two
using
different
definitions?
Inner City
Press on
November 13
asked the IMF
and then the
UN.
When the IMF
held its
biweekly
embargoed
media briefing
on Thursday,
November 13,
Inner City
Press again
asked about
Ebola,
including new
World Bank
estimates of
budget
shortfalls in
Liberia.
Inner
City Press on
November 13
asked, "On
Ebola, what is
the IMF's
response to
the US call
for debt
forgiveness
for three
countries? The
World Bank has
indicated that
Liberia's
revised
2014-15 budget
has an unmet
financing gap
of more than
half of the
budget deficit
projected at
over $300
million. What
can or will
the IMF do
about this?"
IMF Deputy
Spokesperson
William Murray
replied that
given the
flare up of
Ebola cases in
unexpected
areas. "The
IMF staff's
previously
projections
were assuming
the epidemic
would be
brought under
control in the
first quarter
of 2015.
However it now
appears that
it could be
well into the
second half of
2015 before
the Ebola
epidemic is
brought under
control in
these three
countries."
Three hours
later at the
end of a UN
General
Assembly
session on
Ebola, Inner
City Press
asked a panel
of UNGA
President Sam
Kutesa and UN
Ebola envoys
Anthony
Banbury and
David Navarro
about the
IMF's new
projection: is
it consonant
with the UN's?
It was Tony
Banbury who
answered,
saying that
the UN is
aiming at 70%
safe burials
for example by
December 1 and
to turn the
Ebola epidemic
around.
Is that the
same thing as
getting the
epidemic
"under
control," the
definition
under which
the IMF now
projects the
second half of
2015?
The work goes
on. Watch this
site.
The day before
at the UN on
November 12
when the UN
Security
Council met,
Liberia's
Ambassador
Marjon Kamara
spoke not of
the IMF but of
the World
Bank, saying
"the World
Bank recently
gave a gloomy
depiction of
the economic
effects of the
disease on the
three most
affected
countries -
Guinea,
Liberia and
Sierra Leone."
Per Thoresson,
Deputy
Ambassador of
Sweden which
chairs the UN
Peacebuilding
configuration
on Liberia,
specified that
“according to
the World
Bank, the
two-year
regional
financial
impact could
reach $32.6
billion by the
end of 2015.
The World Bank
also indicated
that Liberia's
revised
2014-15 budget
has an unmet
financing gap
of more than
half of the
budget deficit
projected at
over $300
million.”
So where's the
money going to
come from?
Back on
October 30,
Inner City
Press asked
the
International
Monetary Fund
about its
stated $130
million
commitment to
Liberia,
Sierra Leone
and Guinea.
Inner City
Press asked
IMF
spokesperson
Gerry Rice for
an update at
the IMF's
embargoed
briefing on
October 30.
Rice said the
outlook has
worsened, with
region-wide
fall offs in
travel and
tourism. As to
the three
countries most
impacted,
there are
"large
financing
needs likely
for 2015."
At the Annual
Meetings
earlier this
month, the IMF
met with the
three
countries'
authorities,
Rice said.
"2015 is going
to be a
challenging
year." If the
outbreak
spreads, it
would have
larger
spillovers.
The IMF, Rice
said, is
ready. We'll
see.
In the UN
Security
Council on
November 12,
the head of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
recited that
Justice
Minister
Christiana Tah
resigned and
five soldiers
have been
demoted for
disciplinary
offenses while
enforcing a
quarantine of
an
Ebola-affected
community in
Monrovia.
Under Ladsous,
it must be
noted, UN
Peackeeping
has covered up
attacks on
civilians in
Darfur and the
Central
African
Republic.
Ladsous
himself refused
repeatedly to
answer Press
questions
about rapes by
his partners
in the DR
Congo Army.
Video
compilation
here. Most
recently,
Ladsous tried
to block the
Press' camera,
Vine
here. Thus
is the UN
UNdercut.
Also during
the October 30
embargoed IMF
briefing,
Inner City
Press
submitted this
question: "On
Ghana, does
the IMF have
any comment on
the October 28
launch of the
“Civil Society
Organization
Platform on
the IMF
Bailout to
Ghana”? Will
the IMF meet
with the
group?")
On
Ebola back on
August 28 Rice
told Inner
City Press
that the IMF
was working on
the ebola
crisis with
the government
of Liberia,
Sierra Leone
and
Guinea.
Later came the
$130 million
commitment.
While
most questions
on August 28
concerned IMF
Managing
Director
Christine
Lagarde being
under
investigation
-- she will
brief the IMF
Board “very
soon,” Rice
said, calling
it “highly
unlikely” it
would be on
August 29
along with the
Board's
meeting on
Ukraine --
Inner City
Press also
asked about
Yemen, Ghana,
Pakistan --
and ebola,
IMF transcript
here:
“Has
the IMF
produced any
estimates of
the impact of
the ebola
crisis? Any
IMF responses
to it?”
Rice
read out the
question, then
said that
ebola's "acute
impacts" are
“macro-economic”
and social,
hitting three
“already
fragile”
countries
(Guinea,
Liberia and
Sierra Leone).
He said
"growth is
likely to slow
sharply in all
three cases"
and
significant
financial
needs will
rise:
"increased
poverty and
food
insecurity"
and impacts on
employment in
the key
agricultural
sector.
Rice
concluded, "We
are actively
working with
all three
countries to
prepare...
additional
financing that
may be
required."