As
IMF
Downplays Tunisia Role,
Gbagbo Frozen, Juba
Waiting,
Hungary
Dodged
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 21 -- Amid Tunisia's seeming revolution, Inner City
Press has asked the International Monetary Fund twice in the past
fortnight about its role in the country.
On January 6, at the IMF
first briefing of the year, Inner City Press asked, “on Tunisia,
given the IMF's role and statements, what can IMF say about the
unrest that has followed the death of protester Mohamed Bouazizi and
others?”
IMF
later that
day replied with a statement that “we deeply regret the recent
surge of violence in Tunisia. The IMF remains engaged with the
Tunisian authorities... IMF staff continues to encourage the
authorities to pursue structural reforms.”
As
event moved
forward, more and more of the commentary within and outside Tunisia
noted that IMF's long time role in Tunisia. For example on a January
20 on a press conference call Steven Cook, author of "Ruling But
Not Governing: The Military and Political Development in Egypt,
Algeria, and Turkey,” referred the IMF having offered lavish praise
of Ben Ali's authoritarian government.
So
on January 20
at the IMF's next briefing, Inner City Press asked, “on Tunisia,
what is the current status of IMF programs? With whom has the IMF
spoken since the departure of Ben Ali?”
This
time, the
answer provided by spokesman David Hawley was that “there isn’t
an IMF program. Tunisia is a country which has Article IV status and
there is an annual consultation with the authorities.”
So what happened,
after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, to the IMF “remain[ing]
engaged” and “continu[ing] to encourage the authorities to pursue
structural reforms”?
Protest in Tunis, even after Ben Ali fled, IMF not shown
Inner City Press also on January 20 asked three other questions,
getting two answers from the IMF:
Inner
City
Press: On Cote d'Ivoire, what has the IMF done and expended
since November 28? What are its plans going forward?
Hawley:
“We
are waiting for the situation to stabilize before there can be
further action on the fund supported program”.
Inner
City
Press: On Southern Sudan, what is the IMF's planning in light of
the preliminary results indicating an overwhelming vote for
secession?
Hawley:
“The
situation in Sudan, as in any country that divides, is that
following recognition of the new entity and a request by the new
entity to join the fund, there would be consideration of membership.
That is a process that takes some time, up to a year.”
Inner
City
Press' final question, on Hungary, was neither read out loud nor
acknowledged by email:
On
Hungary,
in light of Anne-Marie Gulde's statements, does the IMF find
more in the country's plans to take issue with than the transfer of
funds from private pension funds to the state?
Watch
this site.
* * *
IMF
Postpones
Kosovo
& Pakistan, Waiting for Stronger Governments, Dodges on
Sudan But Answers on Tunisia
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
6, updated -- Questions of Pakistan and Kosovo and the International
Monetary
Fund's
longing for strong governments arose at the IMF's fortnightly media
briefing on Thursday. Inner City Press asked, and IMF spokesperson
Caroline Atkinson read out with a cautionary note, the following on
Pakistan:
“On
Pakistan, what is the IMF's thinking after the assassination of
Punjab's governor, as the government loses power -- [here Ms Atkinson
added, “those are Matthew's words”] -- is it realistic to think
the IMF's conditions will be met?”
In
response, she
said Pakistan has been given nine additional months. But what will be
different then?
Later
in
the
briefing, Ms. Aktinson read out the rare Balkan question, also from
Inner City Press:
“On
Kosovo, what are the IMF's views on Mr. Thaci's proposal to double
public sector salaries, and on the Council of Europe's allegations
this once and seeming future PM was involved in organ trafficking?”
How
ever
distasteful the organ reference may have been to Ms. Atkinson, she
replied that “we have, as Matthew may know, an eighteen month”
program with Kosovo, the December consideration of which has been
postponed.
A
link between
these two may be that while the IMF does impose conditions on its
loans, it prefers to say that governments, particularly legislatures,
have approved or even chosen between the choices presented by the
IMF. This legitimates the IMF, and also may help in collecting the
money down the road.
Kosovo
is
in
political turmoil, and Pakistan no longer even controls large swaths
of its territory -- nor, apparently more importantly to the IMF, its
political space.
Protest in Tunisia, IMF role & even
acknowledgment of question not shown
Submitted
but
not
acknowledge during the briefing by Ms. Atkinson was this question,
about Tunisia:
“On
Tunisia, given the IMF's role and statements, what can IMF say about
the unrest that has followed the death of protester Mohamed Bouazizi
and others?”
We
will await the
IMF's acknowledgement and answer of this question, and a more
detailed response on Sudan and the IMF's role in the debt issues, on
which the UN has said “the Bretton Woods institutions are taking
the lead.” Watch this site.
Update
of
1
pm - Two hours after deadline, the following arrived, with the
notation that it should be attributed to an IMF spokesperson:
“We
deeply regret the recent surge of violence in Tunisia. The IMF
remains engaged with the Tunisian authorities and follows the
developments closely. Unemployment in Tunisia has declined slightly
in the last decade, but remains high, especially among the young. In
this context, IMF staff continues to encourage the authorities to
pursue structural reforms critical to achieve higher growth, enhance
competitiveness and address the problem of persistent high
unemployment. Such reforms include measures to increase productivity
by improving the business environment, reforming labor market policy,
increasing capital investment, and modernizing and strengthening the
financial sector.”
We'll
have
more on
this.
, 
