The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, expressed today (24), during a speech at a G20 meeting, in India, concern about the rise in interest rates and the indebtedness of the poorest countries. For the minister, multilateral banks should promote internal reforms to direct resources to food actions, fight against poverty and to face the climate crisis. The G20 is the group formed by finance ministers and heads of central banks of the 19 largest economies in the world plus the European Union.
“Maintaining the focus on shared prosperity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must deepen discussions on reforms in multilateral development banks that reinforce their role in forming partnerships and channeling resources to deal with the climate, food and poverty nexus”, Haddad said at the opening session of the G20 meeting.
In his speech, Haddad said that these institutions must be capitalized to support developing countries with long-term financing, adequate interest rates and innovative structures to reduce risks, encourage public-private partnerships and attract private investment.
“The rise in interest rates in the midst of the fragility of the world economy aggravates the scenario. We must continue the work being done on the Common Framework and other collective coordination efforts. Having mechanisms for an orderly and timely restructuring is in the interests of both creditors and debtors.”
Haddad also said that Brazil was “isolated”, but that it will now rebuild its international presence to promote understandings based on inclusion and a sustainable future, with reduced inequalities and the achievement of carbon emissions reduction targets, in particular, for projects in developing and emerging countries.
“Climate finance is more expensive and presents higher risk rates for these countries, which makes it difficult to achieve carbon emission reduction targets,” he said.
The minister addressed the global challenges currently faced, such as the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic, wars, conflicts, increased poverty and inequalities, obstacles to the supply of food and clean energy. He emphasized that there must be more dialogue between the major economies in order to obtain concrete results.
Haddad also said that in 2024, when Brazil will preside over the G20, it will work to strengthen multilateralism, keeping the focus on shared prosperity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting the government’s commitment to ending deforestation by 2030 .
