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On COVID Franco Banks Give Brazzaville More As Inner City Press Asked of Bribes in Cameroon

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - The Source

NEW YORK, SDNY, Sept 20 – When the International Monetary Fund held its biweekly embargoed media briefing on September, Inner City Press submitted questions including on Belarus, Kenya, Honduras and Cameroon which IMF Spokesperson Gerry Rice took and answered.

   Inner City Press asked about investigations of corruption in COVID-19 spending in Kenya, the Cameroon of Paul Biya and the Honduras of Juan Orlando Hernandez, and fellow strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko's claim to state Belarusian Telegraph Agency, BelTA, that the IMF offered him a "bribe" of $940 million as Covid Relief Aid, demanding that he "impose "extreme lockdown on his people," force them to wear face masks and impose very strict curfews, see below.

 Now on September 20 on Republic of Congo Brazzaville, this: Banks like Togo’s Ecobank and Gabon-based BGFI Bank agreed a package of $545.70 million, BGFI’s chief executive officer Henri-Claude Oyima said after a meeting with President Denis Sassou N’Guesso.   “It is not a question of funding that is granted directly to the state, but funding to support businesses and allow the country’s economy to revive,” Oyima said. “This will allow part of Congo’s internal debt to be settled."

    On September 10 Rice replied that while the IMF does require recipients to follow WHO guidelines to contain the virus. On corruption, he declined to answer country by country but cited an IMF online tracker on which we'll have more. Interestingly, he said the move of more things like this online has benefits, including in fighting corruption.  But we ask, at the UN?

  Back in July IMF spokesperson Rice said, "We got some questions from Matthew Lee in New York, including on Zambia, and he was asking, what's the state of play? What's the IMF's thinking? What does the IMF think the role of debt to China in the nation's current situation?  I have spoken about Zambia recently here at the podium. In terms of the current status, yes, the Zambian authorities have requested IMF support for their economic program to restore macroeconomic stability, as well has assistance under our emergency financing to help address the human and the economic impact of the pandemic.  I can tell you, that a virtual IMF staff mission took place June 22 to July 10 to discuss the emergency financing request. Progress was made, but discussions continue as the authorities determine their policies and priorities in the context of their revised 2020 budget, as well as the medium-term fiscal stance needed to restore debt sustainability, revive growth and reduce poverty. That’s where we are on Zambia."

 At least the IMF answers Press questions. We'll have more on this - watch this site. 

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