On
Ukraine, IMF
Will "Take
Stock" Of
Keeping In
Crimea Data-
"Until
Recognition"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 1
-- The day
after the
International
Monetary Fund
announced its
$17 billion
program for
Ukraine, under
embargo until
11 am it
released its
Staff Report
and held a
media call.
In the Staff
Report the IMF
says, "It is
acknowledged
that at this
stage the
authorities do
not have
effective
control with
respect to
Crimea for
purposes of
implementing
their economic
policies in
that
territory...
Staff will
take stock of
future
developments
on this matter
that might
affect the
need and
feasibility of
presenting
Ukraine’s data
with or
without
Crimea."
Inner City
Press on the
embargoed call
asked the
IMF's Reza
Moghadham what
factors the
staff will
"take stock"
of in terms on
continuing to
include Crimea
in Ukraine's
data.
Reza Moghadham
replied that
it is IMF
policy to
continue to
include until
their is
"international
recognition"
of the
separation.
Inner City
Press asked,
so does the
IMF still
include
Abkhazia and
South Ossetia
in Georgia's
data?
Moghadham said
Georgia is not
in his
division, but
that an answer
might come.
Inner City
Press
submitted the
question in
writing last
Thursday, as
well as asking
if Western
Sahara is
included in
Morocco's data
by the IMF.
On
April 30, the
IMF sent this
statement to
the Press:
IMF
Executive
Board Approves
2-Year
US$17.01
Billion
Stand-By
Arrangement
for Ukraine,
US$3.19
Billion for
immediate
Disbursement
The
Executive
Board of the
International
Monetary Fund
(IMF) today
approved a
two-year
Stand-By
Arrangement
(SBA) for
Ukraine. The
arrangement
amounts to SDR
10.976 billion
(about
US$17.01
billion, 800
percent of
quota) and was
approved under
the Fund's
exceptional
access policy.
The
authorities’
economic
program
supported by
the Fund aims
to restore
macroeconomic
stability,
strengthen
economic
governance and
transparency,
and launch
sound and
sustainable
economic
growth, while
protecting the
most
vulnerable.
The
approval
of the SBA
enables the
immediate
disbursement
of SDR 2.058
billion (about
US$3.19
billion), with
SDR 1.29
billion (about
US$2 billion)
being
allocated to
budget
support. The
second and
third
disbursements
will be based
on bi-monthly
reviews and
performance
criteria, and
the remainder
of the program
period will be
subject to
standard
quarterly
reviews and
performance
criteria.
Back on April
24 the IMF
said it
expected to
approve a
$14-18 billion
program for
Ukraine on
April 30,
while still
including
Crimea in its
Ukraine data,
IMF
spokesperson
Gerry Rice
said at the
IMF's
embargoed
briefing on
April 24.
Rice
said the IMF
expects its
$14-18 billion
to "unlock"
$15 billion in
financial
assurances
that have
already been
made by
others, whom
he did not
name. He said
that the IMF
has now
received from
Kyiv documents
covering all
"prior
actions" or
conditions
imposed by the
IMF.
Asked
if sanctions
imposed to
"punish"
Russia might
harm Ukraine,
Rice said the
IMF position
is that
current US and
European Union
sanctions on
Russia are
unlikely to
have a
significant
effect on the
Ukrainian
economy. He
said the IMF
believes the
more
substantial
risk is from
the possible
further
escalation of
tensions.
On the
IMF still
including
Crimea in its
Ukraine data,
Rice would not
explain except
to add that
Crimea is only
3.7% of its
Ukrainian
data. Asked
for analogies
to lending to
Ukraine at
this time,
Rice cited
past IMF
programs in
Bosnia, Sri
Lanka and
Peru, calling
them "fragile"
and with
"political
tensions."
While
the
IMF answered
three of the
six questions
Inner City
Press
submitted
during the
briefing, its
question
concerning
whether the
IMF still
includes
Abkhazia and
South Ossetia
in its Georgia
data was not
answered --
nor whether it
includes
Western Sahara
in its Morocco
data.
The
inclusion of
Crimea in the
IMF's Ukraine
data raises
the question
of the
relation
between the UN
General
Assembly vote,
with 58
abstentions,
on the Crimean
referendum and
the
International
Monetary Fund,
as well as the
US Congress'
refusal to
pass the IMF
quota reforms
which US
President
Obama agreed
to in 2010.
Watch
this site.
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