OF THE BANKS FOR EVERYONE, OF ALL AND OF AN OWNER

 OF THE BANKS FOR EVERYONE, OF ALL AND OF AN OWNER

In Washington, capital of the United States, Florida in the spring, finance ministers from all over the world are gathered at the annual meeting of the two pillar institutions of the world monetary system, created in Bretton Woods in 1945, the World Bank and the IMF, International Monetary Fund. The two institutions are well known to Brazilians. The first financed and finances numerous infrastructure projects, from roads to hydroelectric power plants, sanitation and education. And the second, because in the crises we went through with finances, it helped us, but demanded reforms and rigor in public management. Just look at our southern neighbor, Argentina, which is still at this stage, depending on IMF loans, and its missions and demands.

This meeting is very peculiar. The IMF has just released its forecasts for the world economy, which grew in 2024, 3.3%, while the forecast for 2025 is 2.8%. And the growth of the United States is still below the world and would be 1.8% this year. The numbers are much worse than those presented in January. Simple as that, from January until now the threat of tariffs by the US has disordered world trade and gives signs of a fall not only in trade, but also in investments and consumption and has unbalanced the accounts not only of companies but of countries. That is, after the initial perplexity by the North American actions, the time has come to do the math and see what the alternatives are. The meeting in Washington will serve as a backdrop for formal and informal conversations between finance ministers, to formulate not only their defense strategies, but also those of attack.

The United States has weighty votes in these institutions, as well as in the United Nations system. Votes and money that make these institutions work. And although they were created to give monetary and political stability to the world, the change in the Trump administration's policy indicates that the role drawn at the end of World War II is over. Simply, either they serve the interests of its largest shareholder, the United States, or they do not serve. A simple example, in the case of the World Bank, is the equity and gender policy. The WB promotes these policies along with the loans with force, and the Trump government, with rigor is against it. The President of the World Bank is appointed by the United States and the IMF, by the Europeans. Americans can change it, as they have done in the past, and put real hawks, at any time. And in the IMF, exercise power, as they did now making Millei's life easier. For friends everything and for the others, nothing.

In other words, times have changed even in the spring in Washington, for everyone.