UNITED NATIONS, April 15 -- While the IMF on Thursday proudly announced Greece's request to discuss IMF "fund program engagement," questions emerged about conditions the IMF imposes and how transparent they are.
Inner City Press asked for confirmation that the IMF is "pressuring Ukraine's government to set a budget deficit goal of six percent of GDP -- did Managing Director Dominique Strauss Kahn discuss this issue, and this number, with Mr. Yanukovych on Monday?"
IMF spokesperson Caroline Atkinson, who like her colleagues often denies that the IMF pressures any government to do anything, this time replied that "we do not go public with numbers until we're closer" to a deal.
Inner City Press also asked "In Pakistan, there have been protests against the Value Added Tax the protesters say the IMF is requiring be imposed. What is the relation of the VAT to what the IMF will propose to the Executive Board on May 3 regarding Pakistan?"
Ms. Aktinson said "governments decide what measures to implement... we help [with] the size of the adjustment measures."
But Colombia is being offered a facility with no conditions. Inner City Press asked, comparing it to Ukraine and Pakistan, "Would the facility to Colombia which Mr. Lipsky has spoken in favor of come with any similar conditions, or any conditions or recommendations at all?"
Ms. Atkinson said that no conditions are required if "policies are strong." Clearly this would not apply to Greece.
It is also unclear how the IMF decides which opposition parties to meet with, and what instructions it gives them. Inner City Press asked a question which Ms. Atkinson summarized rather than directly answer. The question was, "Following the IMF's Bakker's meeting w/ Bulgarian opposition parties, it appears that IMF disagrees with their characterization of the meeting. Does IMF tell its interlocutors how to describe such meetings, or not to describe them? Will there be any changes in IMF meetings with opposition parties?"
Ms. Atkinson, after her summary, said that "we have different exchanges" with opposition parties "when relevant." She did not answer what instructions or conditions the IMF imposes on such meetings.
Inner City Press asked, The "Haiti Recovery Act" passed by the U.S. House of Representatives calls for the IMF to forgive all outstanding debt of Haiti. Why has the IMF not done so yet, and when will the Managing Director finally make his proposal to the Board?"
But this question, a follow up to an inconclusive Q&A with Mr. Strauss Kahn at the UN on March 31, was not even acknowledged, must less answered. Watch this site.
