By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 22 -- Amid questions to the International Monetary Fund
about Ukraine and Greece, Inner City Press on May 22 submittted
questions about Yemen, the Balkans and this one on Mali:
“On
Mali and the president's new $40 million plane and the state
guarantee for a loan to provide supplies for the army, the country's
information minister says clarification was provided to the Managing
Director in April. Is that true and who will the IMF's Malian program
proceed?”
During
the briefing, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice replied that “the IMF is
concerned about the quality of recent decisions” including the
purchase of the plane and the state guarantee.
Rice
said Mali has been contacted, but that getting satisfactory
information and reassurance will take time. It will delay the first
review of Mali's arrangement with the IMF, initially planned for
June.
This
is the government which France, for example, is propping up while
refusing to take questions about the president's plane (and
non-negotiation with the MNLA), at least at the UN. But this is the
IMF position.
Rice
said there are no new major developments on Ukraine; the IMF mission
is set to be in Kiev in the last week of June, first week of July.
The impact of Russia's new $400 billion gas deal with China is being
analyzed. And, Rice said, criticism has made the IMF pay more attention
to inequality -- and apparently to leaders pampering themselves while
their people suffer, as in Mali. Watch this site.
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