Find below, the reaction of the IMF to the bogus letter of intent the Finance ministry sent them in July 2000. This just goes to confirm my belief in the ineptitude of these mammoth institutions. To justify releasing these funds, the IMF basically regurgitated the garbage Jatta and Clark fed them. Like Ebrima's source, I sincerely hope that people like Hamjatta takes up this cause. I believe they can articulate the reality back home vis-a-viis this letter of intent in better language. It would be interesting to know what kind of 'review' the IMF did between July 7 (when the letter from Gambia was dated) and July 19. What marked development are they talking about regarding the privatization of the financial sector? Sale of Trust Bank? If IMF is really serious about knowing what goes on in the commercial banking sector in The Gambia, they should talk to the Standard Bank. Why did the Standard Bank refuse to finance the groundnut purchase? Why did the Standard Bank in 1994/95 refuse to participate in the government's risky scheme to import rice into the country? There is also more than meets the eye in the government's local borrowing through Central Bank and Treasury Bills. This will be attacked in due course. If the government is worried about making interest payments, think about what will happen if they are called upon to pay the principal in some of these loans. Investors in government bills can ask for all their money after six months if they want. If some commercial banks that invest in government bills were to ask for their principals, the government will go bankrupt. Guys, this economy is in tatters. It is mind-boggling that IMF economists with their Ivy League degrees cannot figure that out. No wonder they were kicking and screaming before they agreed to be more transparent themselves. Some of the lies in that letter of intent can be verified by the minimum research and application of commonsense. Again what did these economists talk about? GDP and lower inflation rates. This is meaningless to the average Gambian. We, in The Gambia have a higher growth rate than the U.S. I wonder what good that does for us. One would have thought that the IMF would grill the Gambian authorities on the 'below the line accounts'. Little mention was made of that. Just urging the government to be more transparent in their reporting. These accounts distort the whole Gambian budget. What the IMF does not get is that the country is being ran by illiterate criminals. These people are incapable of publicizing their criminal activities. No amount of urging will make them transparent. The only way they can live by the rules of civilized societies, is if their life line is cut. If IMF withheld some cash, they might rethink some of their illegal postures. Again, I respectfully urge people to participate in this debate and think of ways of contacting the IMF formally to register our disgust. These shameless low-lives will even use the massacre of innocent children to get more cash for the illegal regime. Money that Yaya is going to steal to build up his Swiss and Caribbean bank accounts. KB _____________________________________________________________________ News Brief No. 00/57July 19, 2000 International Monetary Fund700 19th Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20431 USA IMF Completes First Review of The Gambia under PRGF-Supported Program and Approves US$ 4.51 Million Disbursement The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed its first review of The Gambia's second annual arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)1 (see Press Release 98/28). The completion of this review enables the release of a further SDR 3.43 million (about US$ 4.51 million), which brings total disbursements under the three year program to SDR 10.3 million (about US$ 13.5 million). After the Executive Board's discussion, Eduardo Aninat, Deputy Managing Director, made the following statement: "The Gambian authorities are to be commended for achieving a broadly encouraging economic performance over the past one and a half years of the PRGF arrangement. There has been sustained per capita GDP growth, low inflation, and some reduction in the fiscal deficit. There were also marked structural reforms, including progress in privatization and reform of the financial sector, and a significant reduction and rationalization of the external tariff system was attained. "However, the midterm review of the second annual arrangement has highlighted the need to strengthen budgetary performance and to enhance transparency and good governance. In the fiscal area, the authorities need to press on with reforms to improve coordination and the efficiency of the tax departments, including through computerization. On the expenditure side, the challenge remains to complete the reforms initiated with Fund technical assistance aimed at improving expenditure reporting and control. Governance issues need to be addressed with an expeditious settlement of the Gambia Groundnut Corporation (GGC) property dispute and timely implementation of the comprehensive program that the government adopted in 1999. "Other structural reforms, with an emphasis on promoting private sector activities, will also help to reduce poverty. A more direct effort in this regard requires measures that would enhance the participatory process and facilitate the preparation of an interim PRSP before the end of the year, and full-fledged PRSP during 2001. At the same time, implementing the broad range of the program- and PRSP-related measures remains a major test of the authorities' limited economic management capacity, which should be addressed with timely access to technical assistance. "The preliminary debt sustainability analysis (DSA) indicates that The Gambia may qualify for assistance under the HIPC Initiative. It is expected that a full DSA will be undertaken leading to the preparation of a HIPC document to establish a decision point for The Gambia," Aninat said. 1 On November 22, 1999, the IMF's concessional facility for low-income countries, the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, was renamed the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and its purposes were redefined. It was intended that PRGF-supported programs will in time be based on country-owned poverty reduction strategies adopted in a participatory process involving civil society and development partners, and articulated in a poverty reduction strategy paper. This is intended to ensure that each PRGF-supported program is consistent with a comprehensive framework for macroeconomic, structural, and social policies to foster growth and reduce poverty. PRGF loans carry an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent, and are repayable over 10 years with a 5 ½-year grace period for principal payments. IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT Public Affairs: 202-623-7300 - Fax: 202-623-6278 Media Relations: 202-623-7100 - Fax: 202-623-6772 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface ----------------------------------------------------------------------------