By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June 5 -- After in Sri Lanka the Vice Chairman of the UNP
Lakshman Kiriella MP called on the government to “reveal the
several subsidiary agreements it had entered into with the
International Monetary Fund, which impinged on the budgetary
allocations for essential services,” Inner City Press put the
question to IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice at his June 5 embargoed
briefing.
Rice
read out the question, “Are there 'subsidiary agreements' with Sri
Lanka that have not been disclosed?”
Then
Rice gave a prepared answer: “Sri Lanka completed its stand-by
arrangement with the IMF in April 2012” and “does not currently
have a program with the fund.” He said the “terms and conditions
were outlined in government's letter of intent... published on IMF
website.”
Rice
concluded, “there are no further side agreements.”
Meanwhile
on Greece, Rice characterized as a “private meeting” that of
Christine Lagarde, whose name was floated for the European
Commission, and mission chief Paul Thompson, giving rise to a slew of
follow-up questions. The parliament is out of session until
September. Might it be a good time for Lagarde to make a move?
Ghana
has still not requested any program. Inner City Press also asked, so
far without answer:
On
Egypt, does confirmation of the election of General Sisi have any
impact on the IMF program for the country? What is the status or next
steps?
In
DRC, given the IMF's previous critique of state-owned Gecamines, is
there any IMF comment on Gacemines now calling off its plans to
divest a 20% stake in the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) mining project
to Fleurette Group?
In
Romania it's reported the IMF mission under Andrea Schaechter asked
the Government to come up with measures to compensate for the 5
percent reduction of social security tax paid by companies for their
employees. Can IMF confirm that, and does IMF have any comment on
prime minister Victor Ponta saying June 4 that his government will
not introduce any new taxes?
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