By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 3, updated -- With a mixture of twenty twenty hindsight and outright revisionism, the International Monetary Fund on Thursday joined the wider UN in turning their mis-analysis of Libya into a case of “I told you so.”
The UN system, which had Aicha Gadhafi as a Goodwill Ambassador until exposed by the Press last month, has belatedly pointed at some UNDP Human Development Reports, even claiming that these inspired the protesters in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and even Yemen, where UNDP Administrator Helen Clark visited earlier this year and said nothing about democracy.
On Thursday, Inner City Press asked IMF spokesperson Caroline Atkinson, “On Libya, what does the IMF now say about its praise of the Gadhafi government's policies in early February 2011? Will events make the IMF modify the way it analyzes.”
Ms. Atkinson began, “Of course we always learn from events.” But she went on to claim, “I do feel the changes, what's happening in the Middle East, shows the importance of the issues the Managing Director and staff have talked about for a while, inclusive growth... providing jobs.”
But an IMF publication dated February 15, 2011 stated among other things that “the outlook for Libya’s economy remains favorable.” Really?
Ms. Atkinson also read out Inner City Press' question about Nigeria, where labor groups are urging the government not to give in to what they say is the IMF's advice to devalue the Naira. Ms. Atkinson replied that the IMF is not advocating a particular rate, and said that the IMF's Deputy Director for Africa Mark Plant has been quoted as much. Not in Google News. But we'll keep looking.
Ms. Atkinson ended by saying that Inner City Press has also submitted questions about “Pakistan, Libya, Jamaica, whatever,” adding that the IMF will response bilaterally to these detailed questions. We'll see - question submitted two weeks ago about Ukraine, Cote d'Ivoire and the American GSEs have still not been answered. Watch this site.
Update: long after deadline, an IMF spokesperson provided this response on Jamaica:
Q: In Jamaica, please respond to reports IMF froze earmarked funds for upgrading the corridor from Sangster Int'l airport to Greenwod, St. James? What are the IMF's rules for taking questions?
A: You can attribute this to an IMF spokesperson:
False premise. The government’s agreement with the IMF includes only broad fiscal targets for the central government and the public entities as a whole.
