{ "title": "Transcript of IMF Press Briefing", "publication": "IMF News, June 10, 2022", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing", "overlayPath": "/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/index.md", "summary": "Transcript of IMF Press Briefing", "publishDate": "2022-06-10", "sections": [ { "heading": "Announcements, scheduling, and IMF outreach", "content": "- Briefing opened by Gerry Rice of the Communications Department; session embargoed until 10:30 a.m., Washington time.\n- Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva:\n - Visiting Barbados from June 14 until June 18 for her first trip to the Caribbean region; meetings include Prime Minister Mia Mottley and events open to media and public (students, regional technical assistance recipients).\n - Participating in the G7 Leaders’ Summit on June 27 (hosted by Germany).\n- Deputy Managing Directors activities:\n - Gita Gopinath spoke on the global outlook with Martin Wolf (Financial Times).\n - Antoinette Sayeh in Morocco on informality, development, and the business cycle; then Botswana (conference with African Union) and Zambia (meetings with President Hakainde Hichilema and others to discuss economic developments and debt restructuring).\n - Kenji Okamura: speech in Poland on monetary policy in the Three Seas Initiative; visit to Moldova (meet President, Prime Minister, visit Ukrainian refugee site and border post).\n - Bo Li: speech on regulating, supervising, handling distress in public banks on June 14 at 9:00 in Washington." }, { "heading": "Ukraine — damage assessment, IMF support, and Administered Account", "content": "- Damage assessment:\n - IMF has not conducted a comprehensive damage assessment due to ongoing conflict and access constraints.\n - Preliminary external estimate cited: Kiev School of Economics estimated damage to physical infrastructure as of late May already exceeding $105 billion.\n - Broader concepts of economic losses (output losses, business closures, foregone revenues, and investment) are \"obviously much higher.\"\n- IMF disbursements and Administered Account:\n - IMF disbursed $1.4 billion to Ukraine in March for budget and balance of payments support.\n - IMF approved establishment of a special Administered Account to channel donor grants and loans to Ukraine.\n - Announced donor commitments mentioned:\n - Canada pledged $1 billion and indicated an additional loan commitment of $250 million Canadian dollars.\n - Germany announced a grant of a billion euros to be channeled via the Administered Account.\n - Several other Member Countries are considering channeling support through the Administered Account.\n - When asked about the account scale, IMF stated it would like it \"to be as large as possible\" given large needs; no precise target provided. (Participant reference: \"just over 2, right? 2.25.\")\n- Program support:\n - Ukrainian authorities have indicated willingness for an IMF-supported program to help macroeconomic stabilization and later reconstruction when conditions permit.\n - Near-term international partner support should focus on emergency assistance, ideally fast-disbursing grants.\n - IMF view: program discussions are medium-term and contingent on conditions permitting." }, { "heading": "Sri Lanka — program engagement, debt sustainability, mission planning", "content": "- Situation:\n - Sri Lanka facing severe economic conditions and balance of payments problems; humanitarian and poverty concerns emphasized.\n- IMF engagement and timing:\n - IMF planning an in-person mission to Colombo \"in the coming weeks\" to engage on program policy discussions, building on technical discussions held in May.\n - Timing for a staff-level agreement depends on the strength of policies proposed and commitments by the authorities.\n - Staff-level agreement is distinct from Board approval; Board approval requires adequate assurances that debt sustainability will be restored because Sri Lanka’s debt is assessed as unsustainable.\n - Managing Director had a phone call with the Prime Minister to discuss next steps; IMF reaffirmed commitment to support Sri Lanka.\n - No specific dates or magnitudes of potential IMF financing were provided at this stage." }, { "heading": "Argentina — staff-level agreement, program targets, and intra-quarterly adjustments", "content": "- Staff-level agreement:\n - IMF and Argentine authorities reached a staff-level agreement on an updated macroeconomic framework and associated policies to complete the first review under Argentina’s 30-month program financing arrangement.\n - All quantitative program targets in the first quarter of 2022 were met.\n - Initial progress being made on structural agenda in line with program commitments.\n - Annual objectives established at approval of the arrangement will remain unchanged.\n- Policy commitments and adjustments:\n - Authorities committed to reprioritize some public spending and continue to implement the enhanced monetary policy framework to adhere to end-year fiscal and reserve accumulation goals.\n - Given the impact of the war in Ukraine and seasonal spending/import patterns, the intra-year quarterly paths to achieve annual objectives will be revised; the overall annual targets remain unchanged.\n - Details on updated intra-year quarterly targets and other specifics will be published in the staff report after the Executive Board discusses the first review.\n- Timing:\n - No precise Executive Board date announced; typical timing between staff-level agreement and Board discussion can be anywhere between three, four, six weeks (no specific date given)." }, { "heading": "Global outlook and growth forecasts", "content": "- April WEO revision referenced:\n - IMF revised world growth forecast for 2022 from 4.4 percent to 3.6 percent in April.\n- Outlook dynamics and risks:\n - Since April, developments (ongoing war in Ukraine, volatile commodity prices—particularly energy and food, a more severe slowdown in China than expected, and rising inflation prompting monetary tightening) could lead to further downward revisions in the July World Economic Outlook update.\n - IMF characterization at the time of the briefing: global economy headed into a \"growth slowdown\"; some countries may face recessions; the U.S. continued to grow strongly but faces inflationary headwinds.\n - IMF signaled expectations of a further downward revision in the next WEO update." }, { "heading": "Lebanon — resident representative and upcoming staff visit", "content": "- Appointment:\n - IMF confirmed appointment of a Resident Representative in Lebanon.\n- Engagement:\n - IMF continues working with Lebanese authorities on implementation of a comprehensive economic reform program.\n - Staff team planned to visit Beirut before the end of the month to discuss status of implementation of agreed policies.\n- Emphasis:\n - Complete and timely implementation of initial steps is key to addressing deep-seated problems and rising poverty in Lebanon." }, { "heading": "Tunisia — program request and technical discussions", "content": "- Tunisia has requested an IMF-supported program.\n- IMF welcomes publication of the authorities’ proposed economic reform program and is in technical discussions that are \"advancing.\"\n- IMF hopes technical discussions will lead to a staff mission to start program negotiations \"soon\" (no precise dates provided)." }, { "heading": "Nigeria and electoral neutrality; debt concerns", "content": "- IMF policy stance on political matters:\n - IMF does not comment on elections or political campaigns.\n- Economic engagement:\n - IMF monitoring economic developments in Nigeria and engaging closely with Nigerian authorities on economic policy, including debt-related issues that are affected by global shocks." }, { "heading": "Zambia — creditor committee and debt treatment", "content": "- IMF position:\n - Welcomed announcement by People's Bank of China that China is ready to join the G20 Official Creditor Committee for Zambia and work expeditiously on debt treatment.\n - IMF strongly encourages Zambia’s official bilateral creditors to form the creditor committee and provide financing assurances as quickly as possible to allow IMF consideration of an IMF-supported program and timely presentation to the Executive Board.\n - Creditor Committee Secretariat is working with creditors to identify a suitable date; IMF seeks rapid progress but no specific date provided." }, { "heading": "Food and fertilizer export restrictions — global concerns and India", "content": "- IMF concern:\n - IMF is \"very concerned\" about the use of food and fertilizer export restrictions because they can exacerbate global price increases and market volatility.\n - IMF monitoring indicates about 30 countries have curtailed exports of commodity goods, including food and fuel, since the war in Ukraine began.\n- India:\n - IMF welcomed India’s decision to relax an originally announced wheat export ban to allow contracted shipments and exports to countries with food security needs.\n - IMF hopes for further relaxation of export bans by India and other countries that have imposed them.\n\nTranscript of IMF Press Briefing — June 10, 2022. IMF Communications Department.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- https://www.imf.org/sitecore/service/notfound.aspx?item=master%3A%7B8D1E6EAB-2E82-47BE-B9FE-258FFB4CBC4A%7D%40en\n- Transcripts\n- PRESS CENTER\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/bundle-manifest.json)", "Published: June 10, 2022", "Briefing opened by Gerry Rice of the Communications Department; session embargoed until 10:30 a.m., Washington time.", "Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva:", "Deputy Managing Directors activities:", "Damage assessment:", "IMF disbursements and Administered Account:", "Program support:", "Situation:", "IMF engagement and timing:", "Staff-level agreement:", "Policy commitments and adjustments:", "Timing:", "April WEO revision referenced:", "Outlook dynamics and risks:", "Appointment:", "Engagement:", "Emphasis:", "Tunisia has requested an IMF-supported program.", "IMF welcomes publication of the authorities’ proposed economic reform program and is in technical discussions that are \"advancing.\"", "IMF hopes technical discussions will lead to a staff mission to start program negotiations \"soon\" (no precise dates provided).", "IMF policy stance on political matters:", "Economic engagement:", "IMF position:", "IMF concern:", "India:", "[https://www.imf.org/sitecore/service/notfound.aspx?item=master%3A%7B8D1E6EAB-2E82-47BE-B9FE-258FFB4CBC4A%7D%40en](https://www.imf.org/sitecore/service/notfound.aspx?item=master%3A%7B8D1E6EAB-2E82-47BE-B9FE-258FFB4CBC4A%7D%40en)", "[Transcripts](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)", "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)", "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)" ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/index.md", "json": "/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/news/articles/2022/06/10/tr060922-transcript-of-imf-press-briefing/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-09-26T01:18:15.478Z" }