Guedes heads to IMF meetings in the US to discuss effects of war

Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) leaves this Sunday (17) for the United States to participate in a series of meetings of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. At the center of the discussions will be the stress scenario of the global economy due to the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The financial situation of many countries that have been heavily indebted amid the Covid-19 crisis has raised concerns and the IMF intends to move forward in the creation of a new fund with the aim of providing resilience and sustainability to the most fragile nations.

The IMF’s intention is to channel part of a total of US$650 billion in resources issued in 2021 from countries with strong external financial positions to vulnerable countries through long-term financing.

To meet projected demand, the fund needs to initially mobilize about $50 billion in total resources according to IMF projections. The new fund is expected to come into operation by the end of the year.

Concerns about energy and food security on a global scale will also permeate the debates. According to government officials who spoke about the agenda, Brazil wants to position itself as a solution in the current context (as it is a major producer of commodities) and intends to use this vantage point to build or strengthen bridges with the global community.

Brazil has also reiterated during multilateral discussions that it intends to follow a path of green growth, showing that it has what it considers to be relevant environmental assets, such as the country’s energy matrix –seen by the government as the cleanest in the G20– and recent initiatives such as a recycling incentive program announced in recent days.

The argument for the green agenda is part of an attempt to respond to pressure from the international community on the Brazilian government’s policy of environmental setback on different fronts, but especially when the topic is the country’s entry into the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). ) – a movement that has been threatened by concern about the degradation of the environment in Brazil during the Bolsonaro government.

The invitation for Brazil to join the OECD was approved in January by the Organization’s board members, which started a negotiating process that should last at least two years. But to be successful, Brazil needs to adhere to a series of regulations and conditions – such as reducing deforestation and climate change mitigation measures provided for in the Paris agreement.

The French Foreign Ministry published a note in January saying that Brazil’s entry into the OECD will depend on serious, concrete and measurable progress in the fight against deforestation and climate change.

The communiqué extends to the other five candidate countries (Argentina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania), but it serves as an indirect warning to Brazil, whose environmental policy has been repeatedly criticized by the government of Emmanuel Macron. France is one of the 38 countries that make up the group and that need to reach a consensus to confirm membership of the entity.

This is Guedes’ second international trip in about three weeks. At the end of March, he went to Paris to attend the OECD meetings. On the eve of boarding, he said that Brazil is just a “small environmental transgressor” and that he would negotiate a price to be paid by other countries for the protection of natural resources.

“Brazil is not the guy who pollutes the world. It is a small transgressor, a small polluter,” he said. “Every now and then there’s a forest that burns here and there,” she said.

In addition to meetings with international authorities, Guedes will have meetings with representatives of the private sector — such as members of the financial market. The names have not yet been released by the Ministry of Economy.