On Ethiopia Inner City Press
at IMF Asks About Paris Club Extension and
Spring Meetings Talks
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Substack
IMF, April 4 –
After the IMF's visit to
Ethopia ended April 2 without
an agreement, Inner City Press
at the International Monetary
Fund on April 4 asked
Spokesperson Julie Kozack
about the Paris Club extension
and the upcoming IMF and World
Bank Spring meetings
Transcript
on Ethiopia:
Matthew Russell
Lee, Inner City Press: "On
Ethiopia, I know that there
was a team there till Tuesday,
but there was no agreement
reached. And the Paris
club has, I guess, extended
its deadline. Do you
expect that to be addressed in
the Spring Meetings?
What can you say about
Ethiopia?
MS. KOZACK:
Very good. Okay, so
starting with Ethiopia.
We have received a request for
financial assistance aimed at
helping Ethiopia address the
significant challenges it is
facing. And those
challenges include food
insecurity, humanitarian
needs, post conflict
reconstruction, and high
inflation. The request
is also for the IMF to support
Ethiopia's homegrown Economic
Reform Agenda, which aims to
fulfill the country's
considerable economic
potential. An IMF
mission visited Ethiopia, from
March 19 through April 2, to
hold discussions on the
authorities request for the
program. Building on
earlier discussions, the team
made substantial progress
toward establishing ways that
the IMF can support the
authorities economic
program. These
discussions are continuing and
will continue at the upcoming
Spring Meetings, which will
begin in just a few weeks."
Back on
March 7, a year after the
failure of Silicon Valley Bank
and Signature Bank, the
International Monetary Fund
has warned of more trouble,
just as NYCB teeters. Inner
City Press on March 7 asked
the IMF about it, video here.
The IMF had
said, "the high concentration
of CRE [commercial real
estate] exposures represents a
serious risk to small and
large banks amid economic
uncertainty and higher
interest rates, potentially
declining property values, and
asset quality deterioration.”
Small banks
retain “exceptionally high CRE
concentration for which losses
could compromise their safety
and soundness”, it added.
Nearly 33% of US banks have
commercial property loan books
which are so big versus their
capital buffers that they
exceed regulatory guidance. So
where are the
regulators?
Inner City
Press asked the IMF
spokesperson, noting the
Mnuchin investment in NYCB
(and imposition of Joseph
Otting as CEO).
IMF Spokesperson
Julie Kozack replied that the
risk is real and is being
studied, with more to come in
the GSFR. Watch this site.
***
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