Jair Bolsonaro
The Brazilian government paid for it most of its debts to international organizationsincluding the U.N.in the last week of the term of the President Jair Bolsonaro and before the blackout stunned him in some of them, official sources reported this Monday.
The payment was announced this Monday by the State Department in a statement thanking the Economy Ministry for the release 4.6 billion reais (about $884.6 million) to fulfill its obligations towards multilateral organizations and international development banks.
“The Brazilian government has spared no effort to resolve the chronic payment irregularity and debt accumulated from previous periods,” the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.
Despite the fact that the note attributes the debt to previous governments, Most of the arrears correspond to the last four yearsthat is, the management of the far-right leader, who has repeatedly scathingly criticized international organizations such as the UN itself and the International Health Organization (WHO).
According to the ministry, the funds released will allow payment “almost everything” of Brazil’s debt and strengthening the country’s position in the multilateral system and in the international community.
Brazil’s President-elect Lula da Silva (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
According to the report released last week by Brazil’s President-elect’s transition team, Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaBrazil’s debts to international organizations amounted to about 5,500 million reais (approximately $1,057.7 million).
Lula’s staff, who will begin his third term as Brazil’s head of state on January 1, warned that the payment delay threatens to leave the country without a vote in organizations like the UN Security Council, of which he currently holds a temporary chair.
According to the transition team’s final report, the high level of debt “represents a serious loss for the country’s reputation and ability to act and seriously jeopardizes its foreign policy”.
“Brazil can be excluded from some organizations. It is a high level of debt for which there are no funds reserved in the 2023 budget,” said the coordinator of the transition team’s work and then-former senator. Aloizio Mercadante.
One of the biggest debts, around $300 million through September, was with the Organization of the United Nations (UN)whose statute provides for this loss of voting rights in its agencies to countries that are more than two years behind in paying their contributions.
(With information from EFE)
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