From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:AFRICA: IMF BAD-MOUTHS BAD PRESS ON STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 07:31:45 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Europe, western
Reference: Third World Dvpmnt
Title: AFRICA: IMF BAD-MOUTHS BAD PRESS ON STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT


an inter press service feature

by godfrey karoro

harare, dec 3 (ips) -- multilateral financial institutions are
not impressed with the negative reporting structural adjustments
programmes (sap) are receiving on the continent.

this is despite the claim that in countries where the reform
programmes have been insituted, economic activity is reported to
be ''relatively resilient''.

in its 'world economic outlook' published in october, the
international monetary fund (imf) attributes the resilience not
only to the fall in world interest rates and external debt
reduction, but also to the economic policies pursued in many
developing countries.

officials from the imf, the african development bank (adb) and
the world bank's international finance corporation (ifc), who
organised a journalists' seminar this week in the zimbabwean
capital, are concerned with the lack of coverage of the
positive and successful aspects of the economic reforms.

the three day seminar for southern african journalists was
aimed at giving a human face to the policies and programmmes
emanating from washington, to sceptical economic and financial
media reporters here.

the seminars are primarily aimed to highlight the role played
by the institutions, the rationale of their methods in providing
assistance to member countries, evaluation of the relative
effectiveness of programmes they support and helping journalists
improve their understanding of the day-to-day operations of these
institutions.

''i am not completely happy with the coverage (of sap) in
africa'', the imf senior information officer, ahmed abushadi,
told ips.

''there is a lot of misrepresentations of the functions and
objectives of the imf in helping member countries whose economies
had been made worse by the depeening financial malaise'', he
complained.

abushadi expressed concern that african journalists do not
recognise the vast contribution by the imf in assisting the
majority of african countries throughout the 1980's and into the
1990's.

thirty-five out of the 51 african states have embarked on some
form of structural adjustment programme. (more/ips)


africa: journalists (2)

''they think the imf is responsible for the suffering of the
people while in reality the imf has done a great deal to prevent
conditions from getting worse'', he explained.

abushadi noted that the coverage is not so much negative but
based on wrong assumptions and misinformation. as a result the
imf is placing emphasis on improving the flow of information
to financial and economic reporters whose task is to explain the
policies to the public.

ifc corporate relations unit chief, jack garrity, said that
in most cases journalist are not rendering into layman's
language the benefits and costs of the various economic issues,
preventing the public from making an informed judgement on
decisions and policies taken by governments.

he attributed the failure to the fact that there are
limited numbers of specialist economic reporters in africa
making it difficult for the journalists themselves to understand
what is happening.

but the head of communication in adb commended journalists
for doing their best under difficult conditions.

ekwow spio-garbrah noted: ''journalists also find it very
difficult to get information from their governments and from
multilateral institutions themselves''.

in addition to lack of information, a tanzanian journalist,
who attended the seminar, told ips that certain aspects of the
reform programmes are sensitive, such as devaluation,
privatisation and retrenchments.

''whenever a journalist raises these subjects, officials shut
up and as a result it is not easy to write positive stories which
can motivate readers to appreciate the processes and participate.
the public is always caught unawares'', lamented wense mushi.

''most articles reflect the pain suffered by the people. if
people blame economic reforms for their woes the media has to
write that as it affects their lives'', the editor says.

but garrity said the ifc ''would like to see more profiles of
success stories of entrepreneurs who went into business and are
now exporting and expanding and features on business
activities''.

it was a view shared by the editor-in-chief of the 'southern
african economist' monthly magazine. ''i hope that there are
some converts among the economic journalists after the
seminar'', fili karashani told the seminar participants.
(end/ips/gk/oa/92)
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