Brazil Wants to Convert Foreign Debt into Education Funds

In July, at a meeting in Spain, Brazil plans to present a proposal to convert part of the country’s foreign debt into investments in education.

The Brazilian Ministers of Finance and Foreign Relations will discuss options for this conversion with representatives of financial institutions, as well as the establishment of a benchmark to guide other negotiations.


The deputy executive secretary of the Ministry of Education, Jairo Jorge, judges that “the international atmosphere is favorable to this idea, because the world is aware of the importance of education to a country’s sustainable growth.”


The idea consists in applying on education funds that would be used to pay debts to other countries and multilateral organs (such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund), which hold nearly 20% of Brazil’s foreign debt.


Brazil’s foreign debt currently amounts to around US$ 200.4 billion (545 billion reais).


Proposals already exist for debt conversion on behalf of heavily indebted countries, such as Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Bolivia, but they don’t cover countries like Brazil.


According to Jorge, Spain’s initiative in pardoning 60 million euros of Argentina’s foreign debt demonstrated that countries that don’t belong to the group of heavily indebted countries are also in need of this kind of support.


The secretary says that there will be no stumbling blocks to negotiations with multilateral financial institutions.


“These organs already hold the view that education is not an expense but, rather, an investment.”


According to World Bank data, Latin America’s foreign debt was US$ 728 billion in 2002, 63% more than in 1990.


For the representative of the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in Brazil, Jorge Werthen, indebted countries face difficulties in investing on social policies.


He says that the proposal to negotiate part of the debt does not jeopardize the country’s relationship with other creditors.


“Brazil has an excellent international image, and the world is convinced that it is necessary to make investments in education, science, and technology. The returns are very great.”


Translation: David Silberstein


Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazilian Agricultural Exports to Arabs Grow 15%

Brazilian agribusiness exports to the Arab market added up to US$ 316.69 million in ...

Stampede Time

Investors have been pulling their money out of the Brazilian market at a frantic ...

Brazil’s Trade Surplus at US$ 23 Bi, US$ 14 Bi Less Than Last Year’s

Brazil's trade surplus in the second week of December totaled US$ 947 million. Exports ...

The Reserve Cowbell Player

It was a stirring piece that soon had us all dancing. Painfully trapped in ...

AIDS Drugs Prices Threaten Brazil’s Whole Health System

Last week, the UN AIDS program once again praised Brazil’s AIDS program. However, also ...

Brazilian-Arab Intellectuals Spread Arab Culture

The Institute of Arab Culture (Icarabe) in São Paulo, Brazil, is going to promote, ...

Children Between 5 and 15 Represent 2.7 Million of Brazil’s Worforce

A study released June 22 by the International Labor Organization (ILO) revealed the profile ...

Argentina’s Default Might Lower Brazil’s GDP by Half a Point

Argentina’s debt problems threatens to worsen trade tensions in Mercosur, adding to the economic ...

Tortured by the Military Former Brazilian Prisoners Want Truth Commission

Former Brazilian radical militants who were tortured during the Brazilian military regime (1964/1985) supported ...

Energy War: Brazil Threatens to Stop All Investment in Paraguay

Paraguay and Brazil are preparing for a long dispute over prices from energy generated ...