By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
3 -- In the
International
Monetary
Fund's final
Article IV
consultation
report on
France issued
under embargo
on July 3
there is an
elephant in
the room, or
in the report:
BNP Paribas,
its violations
of sanctions
and nearly $9
billion fine.
Click
here for
Inner City
Press' coverage
of the
settlement.
The IMF today
says of France
that its
"Directors
observed that
the economy
and public
finances are
better
shielded from
banking shocks
thanks to the
efforts made
by banks to
build stronger
liquidity and
capital
buffers and to
an improved
bank
resolution
framework.
However, they
noted that the
regulatory
framework is
still evolving."
Still
evolving away
from concealing
transactions
with Omar al
Bashir's
Sudan, for
example?
The IMF's
eight-page
Staff Report
mentions BNP
only twice:
both in charts
touting French
banks' compliance
with Basel
III. The
31-page
"Selected
Issues" does
not mention
BNP once.
Then again,
now the US Securities
& Exchange
Commission has
given a waiver
from BNP
suffering the
consequences
of its actions
and plea (click
here for a
Reuters piece
citing Inner
City Press' previous
work on Chase
Manhattan now
JPMorgan Chase.)
In
the May 15 initial
Article IV
consultation
report on France,
the IMF opined
that as
"credit demand
picks up, the
ability of
French banks
to provide
financing to
the economy
could be
constrained.
This risk can
be mitigated
by
securitization of
bank credit."
Nevermind that
it was
securitization
without
safeguards
that triggered
the global
predatory
lending
financial
meltdown in
the first
place.
The IMF report
is full of
praise for
Francois
Hollande's new
right-leaning
policies, for
example: "We
take note of
the renewed
emphasis on
making the
enterprises
the engine of
growth. Cuts
in taxes and
social
security
contributions
will enrich
the employment
content of
growth and
help
enterprises
rebuild their
competitive
capacity,
provided they
are used to
boost
investment.
And the
simplification
shock is
gaining
strength
through an
approach that
is well
structured and
promises to
deliver
meaningful
gains for the
private
sector."
Will this
praise be
borne out? If
French banks
do more
securitization,
who will be
helped, and
who hurt? And
what would
Lagarde's IMF
say? Are there
any safeguards
in
place?
Who's running
for political
office in
France?
Back on May 8,
while Ukraine
and Greece
were the
subjects of
the first six
questions
taken at the
International
Monetary
Fund's
briefing, the
IMF impacts
countries all
over the
world. Inner
City Press
submitted five
questions --
on Morocco,
Madagascar,
Pakistan,
Bosnia and
Ghana -- the
last two of
which were
read out and
answered
during the
briefing. Video here,
filmed from
IMF webcast
while at UN
Security
Council
stakeout
Inner
City Press
also back in
May asked: while
the Managing
Director is in
Morocco, can
you answer if
Western Sahara
is included by
the IMF in
Morocco's
data, and what
impact the IMF
believes the
Western Sahara
issue has on
Morocco's
economy and
economic
prospects?
This
last one,
Inner City
Press
also asked a second time, and again more recently on
connection
with the IMF's
Ukraine
program. And
still no
answer. Watch
this site.
, 
