IMF director and Lula discuss Argentina’s economic situation

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, met this Saturday (20), in Hiroshima, Japan, with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Among the topics discussed at the meeting, according to the Planalto Palace, was the economic situation of neighboring Argentina and the country’s importance for the regional balance of South America. The two are in Japan to attend the G7 summit. Before the meeting with Kristalina, at the first working session of the G7, Lula had already mentioned Argentina’s indebtedness situation and mentioned that the IMF must take into account the social consequences that economic adjustment policies may cause. “The foreign indebtedness of many countries, which victimized Brazil in the past and today devastates Argentina, is the cause of blatant and growing inequality, and requires a treatment from the International Monetary Fund that considers the social consequences of adjustment policies. Unemployment, poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, pandemics and all forms of inequality and discrimination are problems that demand socially responsible responses”, said Lula in the speech. At the bilateral meeting, according to the Planalto Palace, the two also addressed the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the poorest countries. Still according to Planalto, Lula and Kristalina agreed that the financial systems of the affected countries need funds to help them in the recovery process.

Agência Brasil