UNITED NATIONS, July 24 -- The IMF, which positions itself as concerned about lower income countries and people, cut off funding to the central bank for six Central African states, and then went on vacation.
The cut off was justified, based on corruption. But when will the problem be solved and the funding be restored?
On July 22, Inner City Press submitted a series of questions to the IMF in connection with Spokesperson Caroline Atkinson's online briefing, which we can no longer call fortnightly.
Of the questions, only one was read out loud, about the Central African bank. The other questions were neither read nor answered. And there will be no next briefing until late August, after the IMF Board's vacation under August 20. (In fairness to the IMF, the World Bank also followed with a cut-off.)
On July 22, Ms. Atkinson read out:
“thanks to those of you who participated online. And I’ll get back to any of you that have further questions that we haven’t been able to take. Actually, I just see—sorry, there’s another one [from Inner City Press] that’s flashed up, asking about the status of the Fund’s review of the Bank of Central African States and 'when will the suspension and disbursements to countries—well, to the BEAC, which then on lends to countries be reconsidered?'
“And just note that we have been closely engaged with the authorities at the BEAC and with the CEMAC member country authorities to help them to address the underlying issues that allowed it to take place. And we hope very much that we can reach satisfactory understandings that will provide assurance that money disbursed through the BEAC will be properly safeguarded and that, therefore, we can continue with the disbursements. And, of course, we’ll let you know when that happens. Okay, thank you very much.”
She also said, “the Executive Board will be on an informal recess from Monday, August 2, until Friday, August 20. We will also, by the way, be having our next press briefing probably late in August.”
So what will happen with BEAC, the central bank for the six states of the Economic Community of Central African States (CEMAC) -- Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Republic and Central African Republic? CAR for example is in chaos, with elections supposedly upcoming but rebels active in Birao and elsewhere.
In the interim, in Cameroon the Finance Ministry was robbed. The Minister of Finance, Essimi Menye said FCFA 700 million as reported by the media as having been stolen would have required a pickup vehicle to transport. He also said such a sum of money was not kept at the Ministry rather at the Bank of Central African States, BEAC. Hmm...
Inner City Press' other questions, which the IMF has yet to acknowledge much less respond to:
On Guinea-Bissau, does naming of coup leader to the top Army post have an impact on IMF re-scheduling consideration of HIPC & MDRI?
Also on Hungary, why is the IMF opposed to Orban's proposed bank tax?
Regarding Haiti, some have questioned why the IMF's new $60 million is not a grant but a loan. Can you please explain?
On Ukraine, will the Board on 7/28 be considering both a $3 billion loan & breaches of information disclosure requirements by Ukraine? What's the connection between the two?
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