| On Tunisia IMF Tells Inner
City Press Board Meeting Postponed
Citing Inclusiveness
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
March 22 – When the
International Monetary Fund
held a question and answer
briefing on March 23, 2023,
Inner City Press asked (in
advance, and in the briefing)
on Tunisia, please describe
the status of the $1.9 billion
staff agreed program, which
Italy for one says it is
urging the Fund to "unblock,"
and the issues in that
regard.
It added
the more recent comments of US
Secretary of State Antony
Blinken, and the EU's Joseph
Borelli. IMF
Spokesperson Julie Kozack
replied that the IMF Board
meeting was postponed, and
that other states can do more
to help.
Inner City Press
followed up with a direct
question about anti-migrant
statements by Tunisia's
president. Ms. Kozack said the
IMF is concerned and following
developments, then referred
again to inclusiveness.
Transcript:
Okay. I now have
a question from Matthew Lee.
Matthew, good morning over to
you.
Inner City Press:
Sure. Thanks a lot. I wanted
to ask about Tunisia. There's
a lot of, in fact, yesterday
at the Standard Forum Banking,
excuse me, Foreign Relations
Committee and Secretary
Blinken has commented, Mr.
Browning's talked about it.
What's the status of a
program? There seems to be a
sense that I don't know if the
comments about migration have
caused some delay, or the
monopolization of power by the
president. But there seems to
be concern among, I guess,
powerful IMF member states
about the status of the
program. And I'd like to know
what the thinking is, what the
slowdown is, and what the
future portends.
MS. KOZACK: Okay.
Very good. Anything else --
any other questions on
Tunisia? Okay. Don't see
anything else coming through.
So, to take a step back and
let you know where we are with
Tunisia. On October 15th,
2022, IMF staff and the
Tunisian authorities reached a
staff level agreement to
support Tunisia's economic
policies with a four-year
arrangement under the EFF. And
this arrangement was worth
about 1.9 billion US
dollars. Tunisia's IMF
supported homegrown program
aims to restore macroeconomic
stability, strengthen social
safety nets and tax equity, as
well as to step up reforms and
support an enabling
environment for inclusive
growth and sustainable job
creation. The international
community can greatly
contribute to the success of
the authorities' program
through a rapid release of
additional financing. The
presentation of this program
to the IMF Executive Board has
been postponed to give the
Tunisian authorities more time
to complete the program
requisites. A new Board
date will be set in
consultation with the Tunisian
authorities once the
requisites are in place. And
the IMF remains a strong
partner of Tunisia and will
continue to support the
authorities in their reform
efforts, including to enhance
social equity.
Inner City Press:
That would -- just one
follow-up. I mean, I guess I
wanted to know if you're
willing to -- seems like many
people have expressed concern
about comments about the
migrant flow through Tunisia
and what's viewed as a real
anti-immigrant stance there.
Is that when you say
inclusiveness, can it be read
that way? Or is that a totally
separate issue?
MS. KOZACK: So,
we are concerned about the
recent developments in
Tunisia, and of course, we
note the steps taken by the
authorities to address the
situation. The IMF remains
engaged with Tunisia, notably
to support efforts to enhance
social equity and promote
inclusive growth.
Inner City Press:
: Thanks a lot.
Video
requested - watch this
site.
***
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