IMF and Brazil

Brazil and the IMF, Washington Consensus.

Brazil became a member of IMF in 1946. However, since then, the country stayed in relative back ground until the series of crises that rocked the country starting in late 80s and still continuing.

Between 1989 and 2003 Brazil borrowed nearly SDRs 28 billion , equivalent to $ 40 billion (August 1, 2003 price). Against this, Brazil also repaid $ 20 billion including debt servicing during the same period. Until 2001, the borrowings (after 1989) was in the region of SRDs 13 billion. In other words, more than SDRs 15 billion was disbursed during 2002-03. This is part of a new package of $ 30 billion announced in 2002.

When Brazil entered the big league of IMF borrowers in the 90s, the Washington Consensus (WC) had just taken a bow. Since the concept was relatively new, it had not been analysed as much as it is now. Consequently, only the clearly visible positive aspects of Washington Consensus were on display. Some of these were Fiscal Dis...