Transcript of IMF Press Briefing

IMF News, September 10, 2020

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Emergency financing provided to now 75 countries as of to date.
Total emergency financing thus far: over 30 billion dollars.
Assistance to 47 low-income countries totaling over 10 billion to those low-income countries.
Debt relief provided to all 29 of our poorest member countries eligible under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT): totaling over 250 million at this point.
Total lending commitments across the board stand at around 270 billion dollars with about one-third of that approved just since the end of March.
Additional lending capacity potentially available: 730 billion dollars (taking total potential to that “trillion dollar” number referenced).
Emergency financing from the IMF comes without traditional conditionality; financing is being used to support government spending with a focus on health sector and mitigating the pandemic.
Lending Tracker now includes commitments made by governments in the context of emergency financing to fight corruption and ensure good governance.

Policy Tracker: describes government commitments and steps to mitigate the crisis.
Lending Tracker: details IMF actions and emergency financing; now includes government commitments on governance and anti-corruption.
Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva delivered a short speech at the UN Financing for Development (referenced).
Short essay by Kristalina Georgieva and Chief Economist Gita Gopinath appeared in Foreign Policy Magazine (referenced).
Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank will be held virtually from October 12 to 18.
Kristalina Georgieva will speak at an event hosted by Friends of Europe on September 16.
Kristalina Georgieva will participate in the meeting of the G20 Finance and Health Ministers on September 17.

Lebanon
- IMF stands ready to engage with the new government after formation is completed.
- IMF has offered technical assistance in areas to help face challenges after the port explosion.
- Finance Minister signed accounting, financial, and forensic audits of the Central Bank.
- Discussions have focused on the need for an accounting and financial audit of the Central Bank’s balance sheet to assess assets and liabilities, the impact of the Central Bank’s financing of government operations, financial engineering on its net worth, and past losses on the balance sheet.

Republic of the Congo
- Authorities and IMF staff are in discussions to update the macroeconomic framework to assist the authorities’ request for a rapid credit facility and later the first review of the Extended Credit Facility.
- Discussions cover debt sustainability and how Fund emergency assistance could help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
- At this stage, too early to provide timelines for conclusion of discussions.

Argentina
- Argentine authorities sent a formal request for a new IMF-supported program very recently; IMF is in initial stages.
- Current phase focuses on listening to authorities’ priorities, fact-finding on the economic situation, and establishing modalities for cooperation.
- Discussions are taking place online; no date for a physical IMF visit or mission announced.
- Authorities’ fiscal plans will be part of the dialogue as discussions continue in a “very constructive climate.”

Ecuador
- IMF and Ecuador reached a staff-level agreement to support Ecuador’s economic policies around the equivalent of $6.5 billion, subject to IMF Board discussion and approval.
- No specific Board date given; expected in the coming weeks.

Angola
- IMF Executive Board meeting on the third review of the Extended Fund Facility program scheduled for September 16.
- Two reviews already completed with a total disbursement of about $1.5 billion.
- Board will decide on the amount to be disbursed under the third review and on any potential augmentation to help address pandemic challenges.
- IMF welcomed Paris Club decision to suspend debt service payments for Angola until the end of the year under the G20 DSSI.

Ukraine
- IMF does not comment on judicial decisions; creating an effective anti-corruption framework has been a critical element of IMF engagement with Ukraine.
- Maintaining independence and integrity of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, and the High Anti-Corruption Court is a key component and a prerequisite under the current IMF-supported program.
- Engagement and discussions on the program, conditions, and commitments are ongoing; no date for a first review mission announced.

Belarus
- In March, Belarus approached the Fund to discuss possible emergency assistance; no agreement was reached due to significant differences about the appropriate response.
- Rapid Financing Instrument does not carry hard conditionalities but requires assurances of transparency and appropriate policy actions to ensure funds address the pandemic and facilitate economic stability.
- IMF sought assurances for steps to contain the pandemic in line with WHO recommendations; IMF did not demand quarantine, isolation, or lockdown.

IMF emphasizes governance and anticorruption dimensions of emergency financing.
Lending Tracker lists measures governments have committed to undertake in the governance and anti-corruption sphere.
Typical actions sought from governments include:
- Audits of procurement.
- Clear publication online of procurement and spending.
- Commitments to ex-post tracking of how money has been spent.
Managing Director’s phrase referenced: “spend the money that’s needed to protect lives and livelihoods, but keep the receipts.”

IMF Press Center is a password-protected site for working journalists; registration required for media participation.
Starting at this briefing, IMF accepted video questions via WebEx to allow journalists to ask in real time; written questions continue to be accepted.
Briefing was embargoed until 10:30 a.m. Washington time.

Transcript: September 10, 2020 — IMF Communications Department, Media Relations