| Inner City Press
asks IMF of Crypto El Salvador
And US Proposed Reserve of
Bitcoin and Others
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
NYC,
March 6 –
When the IMF held its press
briefing on March 6, Inner
City Press was able to ask the
spokesperson two questions
about cryptocurrency, on El
Salvador, including its recent
purchase of Bitcoin, and on
proposals in the US:
Inner City Press:
on El Salvador... [and]
contrast to the U.S. I mean,
President Trump has announced
a digital assets reserve,
including Ethereum and other
coins, as well as Bitcoin. And
I wondered if the IMF could
comment on the U.S. program or
how would you distinguish the
two countries and why the IMF
might be taking a different
approach?
MS. KOZACK: All
right, let me go ahead and
take the El Salvador question
in Ethiopia and then we will
go back. I see many hands up
online. So, on El
Salvador, as you know, last
week our Executive Board
approved a 40-month Extended
Fund Facility, EFF, for U.S.
$1.4 billion and with an
immediate disbursement of $113
million. The program is
expected to catalyze financial
and technical support from
other IFIs. And this will lead
to a combined total over the
program period of about U.S.
$3.5 billion of support for El
Salvador. The goals of the
program are to restore fiscal
sustainability, rebuild
external and financial
buffers, strengthen governance
and transparency, and
ultimately create the
conditions for stronger and
more resilient growth.
Regarding
Bitcoin, in particular, the
program aims to address the
risks associated with the
Bitcoin project to protect
consumers and investors, as
well as to limit potential
fiscal costs. So, to start,
there were recent legal
reforms that have made the
acceptance of Bitcoin
voluntary, and taxes can be
paid only in U.S. dollars.
Under the program, the
government has committed to
not accumulate for their
Bitcoins at the level of the
overall public
sector.
Regarding the
recent increase in Bitcoin
holding by the Strategic
Bitcoin Reserve Fund, the
authorities have confirmed
that these are consistent with
the agreed program
conditionality, and we do
remain engaged with the
authorities on this important
issue. And then,
to your question. We are
obviously closely monitoring
President Trump's announcement
in this area. The Presidential
Working Group on Digital Asset
Markets has not yet completed
its work. So, we do not yet
have details on the
implementation of this
proposal, but we will come
back in due course
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station,
NY NY 10013
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2025 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
