Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 12 -- At the UN, all or most talk is about Syria including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon jumping the gun and telling France not only WHEN his chemical weapons report will be released, but what it will say.

  Is the IMF under Christine Lagarde similar focused?

For the IMF's bi-weekly briefing Thursday morning, Inner City Press submitted this question:

"Has IMF done any work or estimates on impact of Syria crisis including refugees and impact on trade in neighboring countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey or Iraq?"

IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice acknowledged Inner City Press' question; his answer was that due to the security situation, there has been no IMF mission since early 2011. He said the IMF is monitoring the potential spillover, but has no updated information. Well.

Inner City Press also asked this question, about the Great Lakes region to which the Security Council -- and it seems, no press -- will be traveling in October:

"On the DR Congo and Great Lakes, the World Bank announced a major program. Does the IMF have any comparable programs in or with the Great Lakes countries?"

Watch this site.