Lula: Brazil Doesn’t Need Foreign Loans to Keep Growing

In an address, Monday, January, on a national radio and television pool, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that by liquidating Brazil’s debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country will be able to invest more on the population.

"By gaining sovereignty, we are turning a page in our country’s history. Brazil will move forward under its own power," Lula affirmed in the 9-minute speech.

Lula also noted that "the best thing" is that this financial independence is happening together with a series of other accomplishments by the Brazilian people, just when, according to him, Brazil is achieving the best results in recent years in reducing poverty and distributing income.

According to Lula, the Brazilian government repaid the IMF the US$ 15.5 billion in standby funds obtained to deal with the 2001-2002 crisis.

"We are proving, among other things, that we no longer depend upon foreign loans to keep growing; we can do it with our own resources. This means independence and development," he affirmed.

Among the country’s other recent accomplishments, he highlighted the growth of the salary mass and the increase in personal credit, as well as record exports.

Lula remarked that, when he took office, the country was spending US$ 3 billion per year on social programs. "In 2005 we invested US$ 7.4 billion. And this year we will reach US$ 9.6 billion, directly benefiting 40 million poor Brazilians," he said.

In December the Brazilian government announced it would pay off its US$ 15.5 billion debt to the IMF ahead of time. Last week the managing director of the IMF, Rodrigo de Rato, from Spain, visited Brazil to make the advance payment official.

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s America Latina Logistica Gets BB- and Good Word from Fitch

Fitch Ratings has assigned long-term local and foreign currency ratings of ‘BB-‘ to America ...

Even as Solo Candidate Brazil Has Little Chance to Host the 2014 World Cup

The International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) Joseph Blatter is skeptic about Brazil’s chances ...

Presidential Offense

"People who retire before they are 50 are lazy bums who enrich from a ...

Black and White: Marveling at a Brazil Where Racial Rules Are Learned Early in Life

I just returned from another wonderful trip to Brazil. I have been visiting that ...

Brazil’s Fifth Largest Beef Exporter Sells 80% of Production to Arabs

Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt are today the main Arab buyers of the foodstuff ...

By Law Underwear in Brazil Will Have Warning Labels and Sex Advice

After more than a decade of debate, a proposal that has been in the ...

Brazil Blames the US and EU for Brazilian Desertification

Brazilian Gilberto Câmera,  the director of Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (Inpe), says that ...

Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta Take Over Brazil’s Corn

Recent news from media sources would have readers believe that Brazil is euphoric in ...

“We Are Not Dying,” Answer Indigenous Peoples to Sensationalized Photo Expo

An Amazon Indian protested outside the exhibition of controversial photographer Jimmy Nelson’s work “Before ...

Brazilians Want Budgets Accountable for Social Goals

Social participation in the control and supervision of government spending is the purpose of ...