NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico
Brasileiro de Justica e Paz).
Number 487, May 1, 2003
International Monetary Fund Applauds Brazil and Places New Demands
Treasury Minister Antonio Palocci and Henrique Meirelles, the president of
the Central Bank, were praised and applauded at the International Monetary
Fund´s (IMF) meeting (April 13-14) in Washington, DC and at subsequent
meetings with U.S. bankers and government representatives. Brazil´s
economic authorities clearly indicated their choice to give highest
priority to international and national banks. Since the first days of
Lula´s presidency, in order to gain the confidence of creditors, they have
guaranteed in words and acts, that the country will honor the payment of
its debts by implementing an economic policy of tightening and high
interest rates.
Brazil also received special mention in a document of the G-7 countries who
welcomed the "strong macroeconomic policies and ambitious structural
reforms that the Brazilian authorities are implementing". In a meeting in
New York with creditor banks, Meirelles stated that the climate was quite
positive.
During their spring meeting in the northern hemisphere, the International
Monetary Fund, responding to demands from the richest countries, decided to
impose even greater demands for countries with economic difficulties who
requested aid parcels that surpassed their limits at the IMF. Now, when a
country surpasses its limits and requests more aid, it must go through a
special mechanism of the IMF called the Supplementary Reserve Facility
(SRF). Through the SRF, the country will incur greater costs and shorter
deadlines for payment. In these cases, the IMF demands detailed reports
about the situation of the country and an evaluation of the sustainability
of its debts. This toughening of standards had been requested by the rich
countries since the Asian crisis in 1997, when the resulting turbulence
resulted in unrestrained international financial speculation that led many
countries to insolvency which contributed to a great rush to the IMF in
search of help. This assistance is backfiring for many nations who lose
their sovereignty and remain with little chance to have an economic policy
that meets the needs of their people.
The Brazilian external debt grows (it was $211 billion in 2002) as does the
inflation rate (more than 12%). In 2002, Brazil paid $115 billion in
interest rates on the public debt (internal and external). This
corresponds to more than 8% of all that is produced in the country (PIB).
"Each Brazilian worked one month in 2002 to pay the country´s interest
rates", said Marcelo Manzano, a Unicamp economics teacher. However, in
spite of completing the demands of the IMF, Brazil did not succeed in
balancing its payments and had to sign a new Letter of Intention with the
IMF.
In spite of praise for Brazil, Horst Kohler, the managing director of the
IMF, demanded a new round of economic reforms of Brazil and other Latin
American countries. Speaking specifically of Brazil, Kohler stated that,
"Brazil is not yet out of the woods and there are still many problems to
resolve". The new recipe for Brazil and the region includes a focus on
social programs (cutting programs to benefit other aspects of the economy),
prioritizing agencies that regulate privatized businesses, and the
acceptance of the Free Trade Act of the Americas (FTAA) initiative. Kohler
indicated that the "first priority of Brazil and the Latin American region
should be the strengthening of commerce and a commitment to implementation
of the FTAA".
Treasury Minister, Antonio Palocci requested that the White House and IMF
give "opening signals" that would permit the acceleration of the FTAA.
There is a division within the Brazilian government regarding FTAA. The
Ministers of Agriculture and Development as well as the President of the
Central Bank are in favor of FTAA, while President Lula, the Ministers of
Agrarian Development and Cities, the executive secretary of the Itamaraty,
and the president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development
are opposed to implementation of FTAA. Social and pastoral movements are
working to convoke an official national plebiscite on the FTAA. An
unofficial national plebiscite on the FTAA was held in 2002 with over 10
million Brazilians voting. Over 9, 980,000 voted against FTAA.
According to Reinaldo Gonçalves, researcher and teacher of economics at the
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the implementation of the Free Trade
Act of the Americas is of interest to a small group of Brazilian exporters
and to large transnationals. Gonçalves believes that FTAA will make Brazil
more vulnerable to international capital and block the possibility of an
autonomous national project while promoting more misery and unemployment.
Those who will profit from FTAA are exporters and business men/women who
want to protect their investments and to sell their textile products and
steel in the United States. Large landowners will have advantages in being
able to sell their land to transnational agricultural businesses.
According to Gonçalves, increasing the deregulation of the economy will
only increase Brazil´s external vulnerability which is the principal cause
of the country´s instability.
The pastoral section of the National Bishops´ Conferences also is
campaigning against the FTAA and calling for a new model of development for
Brazil that includes the creation of jobs, a just distribution of income,
higher investments in social areas, agrarian reform, and working against
the liberation of genetically-modified food products. The national
plebiscite on FTAA is scheduled for the beginning months in 2004.
Committees will work in schools, workplaces and diverse sectors to educate
the population as to the major issues involved in FTAA.
Sources: Brazil de Fato, April 26, 2003 and Folha de São Paulo, April 30,
2003
The Year of the Aged
by Daniel F. McLaughlin
The word "old" for many people brings to mind a number of pejorative
connotations. In the Brazilian society, "old" has this pejorative
meaning,
signifying the following: loss, nonproductive, weakness, uselessness and
ancient.
The Brazilian Catholic Bishops Conference in their annual Lenten Campaign
prepared a manual on the question of the elderly in today´s society. One of
the recommendations was to use
the word "elderly" as it has a kinder meaning, referring to a person
who
has lived longer and has had more experience. The statements of the
Brazilian Bishops in their Lenten document were reinforced by recent
research done by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Bishop Javier Lozano Barragán speaking at the Second World Assembly of the
United Nations on Growing Old, in Madrid on April 8, 2002 said that the
elderly are the guardians of the collective memory. They have a perspective
of the past and of the future at the present moment. The elderly can help
bring together the different generations, placing at the disposal of all
the treasures of their time, abilities and experiences.
Dom Barragán mentioned that in today´s cult of global productivity, the
elderly unfortunately run the risk of being considered useless. From a
Christian point of view, their presence in today´s world clearly
demonstrate that the economic value is not the only one nor the most
important one.
In their document on the elderly, the Brazilian Bishops Conference stated
that the ageing of the population is a world phenomenon, but in Brazil, it
is happening more rapidly. For example, in France, it took more that 150
years for the population over 65 years to reach 15% of the total population
of the country. In Brazil, this proportion was reached in only 25 years.
IBGE research showed that in the next 20 years the elderly population of
Brazil should pass 30 million. In 1991, the population of those over 60
years was 10.7 million. In the year 2002, it was 14.5 million. The
proportion of the elderly is increasing more rapidly than that of
children. In 1980 there were 16 elderly for every 100 children. In 2000,
there were 30 elderly for every 100 children.
In its report on the longevity of life for the elderly, the IBGE reports
that living in the city could be very beneficial for the elderly,
especially for widows, because of the proximity of their children and
specialized health services. The report showed that the proportion of
elderly living in rural areas fell from 23.3% in 1991 to 18.6% in 2002.
Another interesting fact is that 62.4% of the elderly in Brazil are
responsible for Brazilian households, an increase of 2% since 1991.
Daniel McLaughlin is a Catholic priest living among the poor in the
periphery of the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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cited.
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