BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR JOINT EFFORTS TO CONTAIN CONSEQUENCES OF
GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS New York, Sep 25 2012 1:05PM One of the first world
leaders to address the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level debate
today, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff called on countries to boost
international efforts to tackle the global economic crisis, stressing that a
balance must be found to stimulate growth while at the same time controlling
public spending without resorting to extreme austerity measures.
“The grave economic crisis that began in 2008 has taken on new and worrisome
contours,” she said. “The choice of orthodox fiscal policies has been
worsening the recession in the developed economies, with repercussions for
the emerging countries.”
Scores of the world’s heads of state and government and other high-level
officials are attending the Assembly’s General Debate, at UN Headquarters in
New York, and are expected to present their views and comment on issues of
individual national and international relevance over the coming days.
In her remarks to the gathering, President Rousseff stressed that countries
must find a path that combines appropriate fiscal adjustments with measures
to stimulate investment and demand to halt the ongoing recession and ensure
future economic growth.
In particular, the Brazilian President noted that monetary policy cannot be
the only response to growing unemployment and poverty as this is causing
imbalance in exchange rates, which, in turn, is creating an artificial
appreciation of emerging countries’ currencies.
“There will be no effective response to the economic crisis without
strengthened coordination efforts between United Nations members and
multilateral bodies such as the G20 [Group of 20], the IMF [International
Monetary Fund] and the World Bank,” she said.
She added, “This coordination must attempt to reconfigure the relationship
between fiscal and monetary policy, in order to prevent the deepening of the
recession, control the currency war and once again stimulate global demand.”
Countries must build a comprehensive pact for the coordinated resumption of
global economic growth, President Rousseff said, noting that this is crucial
to prevent social unrest and despair prompted by high unemployment rates,
and social inequality.
The Brazilian leader emphasized that Brazil has addressed the crisis
domestically by exerting strict control over public spending, while
simultaneously increasing investments in infrastructure, education and
social inclusion.
“We have overcome the incorrect view according to which measures to
stimulate growth are incompatible with austerity plans. This is a false
dilemma,” she said. “Fiscal responsibility is as necessary as growth
measures are indispensable, for fiscal consolidation can only be sustainable
in a context of economic recovery.”
President Rousseff also spoke of the need for multilateral action to achieve
all the commitments made at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development
(Rio+20) which Brazil hosted in June. The Conference, she emphasized, helped
to set a starting point for a sustainable development agenda for the 21st
century, and give countries guidance as to how to address challenges such as
climate change, poverty and exploitation of natural resources.
“Rio+20 shone a powerful light on the future we want. We have an obligation
to heed the many warnings being sounded by science and society,” Ms.
Rousseff said. “In a context of environmental challenges, economic crises
and threats to peace in different parts of the world, Brazil continues
committed to working with its neighbours to build an environment of
democracy, peace, prosperity, and social justice.”
Earlier today, the Brazilian President met with Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, who thanked her for making the Rio+20 Conference a success and
expressed his appreciation for Brazil’s contribution to UN peacekeeping
operations in Haiti.
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