By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 10– When the International Monetary Fund held its biweekly embargoed press briefing on May 10, Inner City Press asked about crypto-currency and El Salvador, and COVID-19 lack of transparency in Cameroon (including US visa sanctions amid crackdown in Anglophone zones) and Tanzania. Interim videos here (crypto) and here (Cameroon), IMF video and transcript forthcoming. Spokesperson Gerry Rice responded on each.
Inner City Press asked, "On El Salvador and crypto, what is the IMF's response to and/or comments on the moves from the country's president to make Bitcoin legal tender?" For the IMF, Rice expressed legal and financial concerns about crypto, then deferred to a meeting with El Salvador's president later in the day.
Inner City Press followed up, beyond El Salvador, on the IMF's legal concerns, asking if for example the move by the US SEC to require Ripple / XRP to register would alleviate any of those concerns. Rice said regulation is needed. More to follow.
Inner City Press asked asked, "On Tanzania and COVID-19, with the government saying it has revived its request for RCF program from the IMF, and the IMF's Jens Reinke being quoted that "in order to justify emergency financing in the context of the pandemic, you need to publish relevant public-health data," please state the current status of the IMF's process with Tanzania, and more generally the minimum level of data reporting that the IMF would require." Rice said the IMF mission in ongoing, and declined to confirm that the requested RCF program size is $571 million, as the finance minister said.
On Cameroon, Inner City Press asked not only about the recent (and belated) US visa sanctions but also alleged corruption in COVID-19 spending. The IMF's Rice noted the investigation, and said that beneficial owners of those given procurement contracts should be disclosed. Again, more to follow.
Watch this site.
Back on January 8 Inner City Press asked the IMF's Helge Berger, Mission Chief, about China's so-called Belt and Road Initiative: "Your Article IV report cites China's "overseas lending projects" amid "rising geopolitical tensions and economic and trade frictions." How does the IMF think that rising debt levels among African countries, and increased skepticism about the "Belt and Road" will impact or be addressed going forward? -Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press. Video here.
(An aside: Inner City Press has reported on the CEFC China Energy Fund Committee's activities in Chad and Uganda and in the UN, on which the UN is UNresponsive.)
Other questions included China's digital currency (Inner City Press also reports on crypto-currency cases in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and elsewhere). Berger said when used overseas an issue is that residents could start using another country's currency, if it is easier.
We'll have more on this.
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