JAckFrost8: (Reposted) Statement at the End of an IMF Mission on Iraq
September 12, 2016
End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.
The Iraqi authorities and the staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held discussions in Amman from August 28–September 10, 2016 on the first review of Iraq’s 36-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) approved by the IMF Executive Board on July 7, 2016. (See Press Release No. 16/321).
Mr. Christian Josz, Mission Chief for Iraq, issued the following statement:
“The Iraqi authorities and IMF staff started discussions on the first review of the SBA. These discussions will continue during the upcoming IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings from October 7–9, 2016 in Washington, DC.
“During the mission, the team met with the Minister of Finance Hoshyar Zebari, Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), Dr. Ali Allaq, the Financial Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Mudher Saleh, and officials from the ministries of finance, oil, planning, electricity, the CBI, and representatives from the Kurdistan Regional Government, Board of Supreme Audit, and pension commission. The team would like to thank the Iraqi authorities for their cooperation and the open and productive discussions.”
IMF Communications Department
http://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2016/09/12/PR16401-Iraq-Statement-at-the-End-of-an-IMF-Mission
TNT:
PeaceDay: IMF’s Christine Lagarde faces December trial in fraud case
by Jill Disis @CNNMoney
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, will go to trial December 12 in a long-running fraud case.
A French court set the date Monday after rejecting an appeal.
Lagarde is accused of intervening in a legal dispute between French tycoon Bernard Tapie and the bank Credit Lyonnais in 2007, when she was finance minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Related: IMF’s Christine Lagarde to stand trial over fraud case
Tapie, a Sarkozy supporter, sued the French state in 1993 after selling a stake in Adidas to Credit Lyonnais. The bank was owned by the state at the time.
He says Credit Lyonnais defrauded him when it resold the stake at a far higher price, a claim denied by the bank, which has since been bought and reorganized.
Lagarde has not been accused of profiting from the Tapie case, which has been moving through the French courts for years. The issue is whether she gave him preferential treatment.
She has denied wrongdoing. The offense carries up to a year in prison and a fine of about $17,000.
Lagarde will be tried by a special court that handles actions carried out by public officials while they are in office. It is composed of members of parliament and magistrates.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/12/news/international-monetary-fund-christine-lagarde-trial-date/index.html
