S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Brazilian president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva said yesterday (15), at the opening of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Latin America, in Rio de Janeiro, that Brazil should be one of the first and most resistant economies to leave the global recession. To those participating in the first day of the event, according to Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/i>, the current crisis is different from those lived by the region in previous decades and Latin America needs to find its own answers.<\/p>\n
"I spent 20 years of my life carrying a sign and screaming ‘IMF get out’ in the streets, at factory gates, and in political meetings. And in recent days I called my Finance minister and said to him: ‘We are going to loan money to the IMF’. We are no longer debtors, and now want to become creditors and to loan money to the IMF under the condition that this loaned money serve to aid the economies of the poorest nations and of developing nations," said the Brazilian president.<\/p>\n
According to Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/i>, Lula added that Brazil has been taking consistent measures against the global financial crisis and that the impact of economic turbulence does not mean a period of recession in the country, as happened in the past. "We will do anything to avoid the country returning to the stagnation of the 1980s, of the 1990s," he said.<\/p>\n
According to Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/i>, the president declared that the country has adopted measures to fight the contraction, stimulating credit, consumption through lower taxes and production. To him, Brazil "was the last to enter the crisis" and with these measures "will be the first to leave".<\/p>\n
He showed concern with regard to the impact of the crisis on the poorer nations, mainly with regard to employment. To the president, global poverty should only come to its end when distribution of labour takes place in parallel with economic development. Lula returned to defending changes in the international financial system.<\/p>\n
"At today’s and tomorrow’s meeting with the business community, these concerns should be in the centre of debates. Private initiative is a fundamental partner to develop a new model of more inclusive and sustainable development," said Lula.<\/p>\n
The president of Colombia, \u00c1lvaro Uribe, added, also at the Forum, that Lula’s command in the economic area helped Brazil and serves as an example for other countries in the region. According to material published on the WEF site, he declared that the country also made great efforts to win the confidence of its own citizens and of international investors. To Uribe, confidence should be a vital ingredient when the crisis is overcome. "When the crisis comes to an end, investment will be made in those countries in which there is greater confidence," he said, according to the event site.<\/p>\n
"Brazil and Latin America are not the problem, but a solution to the challenges of the world. When taking into consideration the natural resources, mature institutions and qualified labour, we are ready to receive investment and supply the market needs," stated Luiz Fernando Furlan, the chairman of the Board of Governors of Sadia group, and former minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, according to the site.<\/p>\n
The vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank, Pamela Cox, in turn, pointed out that the region has the double challenge of facing poverty and inequality, but that today, it "is better equipped to face them".<\/p>\n
Consensus<\/b><\/p>\n
To former Central Bank governor Arm\u00ednio Fraga, Latin America cannot follow the same solutions adopted by the G-7 (the group of seven most developed economies in the world). "It is not like the crises we are used to; it is not a political, balance of payments, default or inflation crisis. We also do not have the kind of leverage bubble there is in other regions and, for this reason, we cannot seek the same solutions adopted by the G-7," he said, according to Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/i>, on debating the regional economic scenery for 2009.<\/p>\n
In the understanding of Ricardo Marino, director of Ita\u00fa\/Unibanco, it is not a structural crisis in the region, but a "clinical contraction exported from abroad". To Marino, Latin America is less vulnerable due to the macro-economic adjustment of the last decade. But, not even for that, is there no risk. Among the tremors shown at the meeting is the growth of unemployment.<\/p>\n
"We are seeing or will soon see two-digit rates of unemployment," warned Felipe Lorrain Bascu\u00f1\u00e1n, Economics professor at the Catholic University of Chile. He pointed out the part played by the State not just for the creation of new posts, but also for the training of workers to preserve employment. He defended the importance of subsidies for the creation of new work posts, still according to Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The director of the Initiative for Latin America in the Brooking Institute, of the United States, Mauricio C\u00e1rdenas, said that public incentives are welcome, but that it is necessary to take care of policies for subsidies to specific groups and sectors. "We must, for the time being, take care for these sectors to remain on their own legs," he alerted.<\/p>\n
Al\u00edcia B\u00e1rcena Ibarra, executive secretary at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac), considered protection to investment in the region important. "Despite losing a little of our revenues, we must protect investment." She also defended greater dialogue between governments and private initiative. "It is very important for there to be coordination between what governments and the productive and the private sector want to do. We are seeing governments announcing measures without hearing the private sector," she said, according to Ag\u00eancia Brasil<\/i>.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Mark Ament<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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