Eric LeCompte was featured in Crux on the IMF withholding emergency COVID funds from Afghanistan. Read an excerpt below and click here to read the full article.

IMF emergency COVID funds withheld from Afghanistan

By John Lavenburg

NEW YORK ­­– The International Monetary Fund on Aug. 23 withheld $455 million in emergency COVID-19 relief funding from Afghanistan, after the Taliban’s takeover of the country forced the organization to withhold its recognition of the Afghan government.

The withheld funds are a part of $650 billion in emergency reserve funds, known as the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, that the organization made available to countries worldwide on Aug. 23.

Eric LeCompte, the executive director of Jubilee USA Network who has for months advocated for the creation of these funds alongside the U.S. bishops’ conference and other religious groups, told Crux that’s it’s unfortunate Afghanistan won’t receive the funds, but called it a “good move” for the IMF given the country’s unstable situation.

“There are real questions when you don’t know how the government is going to act, you don’t know who the authority is, or who’s in charge, where the IMF has to pull back its recognition of the government in order to ensure that money is being spent correctly,” LeCompte said. “So, unfortunately, it will have, I think, a negative impact on the people just as all of the questions around a government transition in Afghanistan right now.”

Read more here.