Press Release - Transcript of a Press Briefing with Gerry Rice, Director of the IMF Communications Department and IMF Spokesman - September 15, 2016
MR. RICE: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this briefing on behalf of the IMF. I'm Gerry Rice of the Communications Department. And as usual this morning, the briefing will be embargoed until 10:30 a.m., that’s Washington, D.C. Time.
Let me begin with a few announcements, and I'll ask for your patience because there are quite a few. And the reason for that is, as many of you know, we are heading into our peak period of the year, which is the Annual Meetings. It's coming up October 7th to the 9th, here in Washington.
And in the run-up to those meetings we have quite a bit happening. I think much of it will be of interest to you, so let me go through it quickly, and then I'll come to your questions in the room, and see if we have a few questions coming online already too.
So, you probably saw the Managing Director had been in China for the G-20, and she had been in Laos for the ASEAN Summit. And the last couple of days she was in Canada for an official visit there.
So, upcoming on Sunday, that’s September 18, the Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, will be giving a speech at the International Bar Association in Washington. And we'll share that with you. I'd like to believe it's a major event, being held at the Washington Convention Center on Sunday, and we will get that to you. That's the International Bar Association.
Then the following day, that’s Monday the 19th, the Managing Director will in New York City, where she will participate in a roundtable discussion on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda which, as you know, is related to the sustainable development goals approved by the United Nations last year. She will be participating in that event with other international organizations, and the Chinese authorities.
So this is all part of the UN General Assembly events that are being held in New York next week. So that’s the 19th; and then on the 22 nd, she will be participating, amongst other things, in a USAID event, on the topic of Financing for Development.
And then she will speak at the UN high-level panel on women's economic empowerment. So that’s all happening in the context, again, of the UN General Assembly events next week in New York.
The following week on September the 26th, the Managing Director will be in Cartagena, Colombia, to attend the Signing Ceremony of the Peace Agreement there. And a couple of days later, she will be in Chicago to deliver what we call our curtain-raiser speech. That’s raising the curtain on the Annual Meetings, and giving a sense of what we expect the discussions to be at the Annual Meetings, what we expect the topics to be.
That’s going to be, again, a major speech at an event at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. And as usual, will be available to you, webcast-live, et cetera, et cetera.
Our Deputy Managing Director, Mitsuhiro Furusawa, is visiting Guinea today, Guinea. And tomorrow he will be meeting with high-level officials and others. And then Mr. Furusawa will travel to Senegal, where he will meet with government officials, and participate in a conference on financial inclusion, organized by the Community of West African States and the IMF.
A few more things, again, running into the Annual Meetings; we will release tomorrow an IMF staff paper, one of our SDNs, Staff Discussion Notes, on the economic impact of conflict and the refugee crisis in the Middle East and North Africa, along with a statement, a blog actually, by Christine Lagarde.
Again, the UNGA, next week, refugees is one of the big issues being discussed. So we will be releasing that report tomorrow.
Then on September 27th, which is a Tuesday, I believe, we will be releasing, again, what we refer to as the analytical chapters of the World Economic Outlook. So not the WEO itself, but the analytical chapters, and I know again, this is of interest to many of you. The chapters will focus on trade, disinflation, and spillovers, and we'll get you more details of those things in advance, and the precise timing and all of that, but that’s September 27th, for your calendar.
Then on the 28th, as I mentioned the Managing Director will be in Chicago giving the Curtain Raiser Speech. Then on the 29th, so that’s the Thursday, the analytical chapters of the Global Financial Stability Report, the GFSR, will be presented to you, to the press, at our headquarters here. And again, these chapters will focus on issues of corporate governance, financial stability in emerging markets in particular, and on monetary policy and the rise of non-bank finance. Again, all very topical.
Finally, you'll be glad to hear that word, as came up at the last press briefing actually. On October 1st, China's currency, the renminbi, will be added to the Special Drawing Right basket, and we will have some communication around that for you, and we'll be in touch with the specifics of that. So that’s October 1st, which is actually a Saturday, so we'll probably be doing something with you on the Friday preceding, but we'll coming back with more detail.
Sorry about the length of those announcements, but quite a lot going on, and I hope that’s helpful to you.
QUESTIONER: Thank you. To go on with the schedule; when will you be releasing the documents for the Ukrainian review that happened last night? And is it true that you are planning for two additional tranches in the next six months? Thank you.
MR. RICE: So we, for those of you who aren’t following it, the Board did approve the second review of the Ukraine Program yesterday, and there was a press release related to that promise, and the announcement of a disbursement of $1 billion under the second review.
We would expect the report to be published soon. I don’t have the exact date for you. It will be published along with the report on the ex post evaluation of 2014 standby arrangement, which was also discussed by the Board yesterday. And, again, we did issue a press release last night.
On the next review and the next disbursement, again, that could be by the end of the year. I don't have a timing on that, and I don’t have numbers on that in terms of what the disbursements agreed might be, it's something the Board would discuss at that time. Okay on Ukraine?
QUESTIONER: Fine.
MR. RICE: Okay. Good. Good morning.
QUESTIONER: Good morning. Can you, please, give us an update of the negotiations that are taking place right now, in Athens? And did you have the dates of the Article IV Consultation, it will be helpful?
MR. RICE: Yes. So, we talked about this last time, let me just clarify it again. As there's a mission on the ground, a Fund mission on the ground right now, working with our partners in the Troika, working with the European institutions, that’s this week.
Then next week, the Article IV process, discussions, engagement with the Greek authorities will begin next week. So those are two separate commissions. One, discussions around the ESM Program, the European Program, and then next week or Article IV which is a separate process, an IMF process; the Article IV is something, as you know, is something that we do with all member countries.
We haven't done with Greece for about three years, so that process will begin, and as I mentioned last time, the Article IV, I think one of the benefits of it, is it's really -- it's a chance to step back from the program details, and look at some of the medium to longer-term issues entailed and look at some of the medium to longer-term issues facing the Greek economy. As usual, with those consultations, we expect a communication at the end of that process, normally it's a couple of weeks. And, you know, we can get you more information on that.
QUESTIONER: Okay. So yesterday the Greek Minister of Labor said that the Greek government cannot accept what you guys suggest regarding the labor market reform.
MR. RICE: You guys?
QUESTIONER: The IMF. So he also described the distance between the two sides huge, and he described the IMF as an extreme player. How do you comment on that?
MR. RICE: I haven't seen those comments actually, so I don't have any comment on them. You know, as I mentioned, we have a mission on the ground right now and there about to start this first very important Article IV Consultation in three years in Greece. We'll be working closely with the Greek authorities and collaboratively with the Greek authorities on that. And, of course, we're working side by side as I mentioned with our partners in Athens.
QUESTIONER: (What do you have to say about the upcoming review?
MR. RICE: Well, the upcoming review, as you know, is relating to the ESM program, to the European program. So I don't have any comment on that. I think you know where we stand, that we're not participating with financing at this point. That said, we remain fully engaged in those policy discussions with the Greek authorities and the European partners.
QUESTIONER: Can you tell us, Gerry, what is your position on the labor market? I mean, do you agree with the government?
MR. RICE: You know, it's something that's going to be under discussion, in the context of the ESM review, and I'm sure that it will also be something that will be looked at broadly in the context of the Article IV. So, you know, let's wait for that, that's all going to be upcoming very soon.
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