Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva once again defended pardoning poor countries’ debts so that they can invest in the social area. The Brazilian leader addressed the special session, “Funding the War on Poverty,” of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 28.
Lula suggested that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conclude an agreement with the poorest countries that owe money to the Fund to use the amounts they are obliged to repay in areas such as education or agriculture.
Lula reiterated his thesis that, to put an end to poverty, it must be treated as a political issue.
“As long as it is handled as merely a social question, it will never go away,” he affirmed.
The President referred to a suggestion presented at the inauguration, on January 27, of the Global Campaign Against Hunger and Poverty, during the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, for the creation of a multilateral institution.
The President also recalled that Brazil has pardoned the debts of such countries as Bolivia, Gabon, and Mozambique.
Pointing out that Brazil has been growing in recent years, Lula observed, however, that the wealth produced in this setting of growth is not well distributed and thus generates poverty.
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil