By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 23 -- With the International Monetary Fund refusing to answer or even acknowledge questions about its consideration of programs from Afghanistan through Belarus to South Sudan, set for independence on July 9, it seems the arrest and resignation of Dominique Strauss Kahn, the two candidate race to replace him and a recent hacking scandal have distracted the IMF.
When the IMF on Thursday morning held its first press briefing in two weeks, the questions largely related to the race between Christine Lagarde of France and Agustin Carstens of Mexico to replace DSK. Two questions, one online and the other in-person, concerned the IMF getting hacked. Deputy spokesman David Hawley said that “files were copied,” but deferred other answers.
Inner City Press submitted as it has in the past four questions by the IMF's online briefing center. In the past at least some questions have been answered, about Sudan and less frequently Sri Lanka.
But in his post-DSK era, these June 23 questions were entirely ignored:
With South Sudan set to declare independence on July 9, what is the status of the IMF's consideration of South Sudan, including in light of Sudanese president Omar al Bashir's threat to cut off the pipelines that takes South Sudan's oil to market?
Afghan authorities have complained about negotiations with IMF. On Afghanistan, can you state the status of and explain IMF's requirement that shareholders not have any management role in Afghan banks, given that this is allowed in the US, for example?
In terms of the IMF's research budget, some have questioned whether the IMF at times censors the conclusions of research. Is that true, and if so how does the IMF respond to the criticism?
In Belarus, will the new arrests of protesters in the last days have any impact on the IMF's consideration of Belarus' request for an IMF program?
Nor in the half hour between Hawley saying “there are no more questions” -- which wasn't true -- and the expiration of the embargo were any of the four questions answered. Previously the IMF has been asked about gift filings by its top officials, and hasn't answered. Oh, transparency.
