IMF says new Brazilian finance minister's first announcements "positive"

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday welcomed the first announcements made by Brazil's new Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles regarding how to overcome his country's recession, saying they are positive.

After taking office last week, Meirelles expressed his hopes to control public debt, reform the pension system and increase taxes. But he did not presenting any concrete proposals.

"We hope that the economic reforms, which are very necessary, can be implemented quickly to help Brazil overcome the current economic situation," the IMF's spokesperson Gerry Rice said on Thursday.

IMF considers it essential to recover confidence, investments, the inflation target, the floating exchange rate and the fiscal responsibility, Rice said.

"In this way, we applaud Meireilles' emphasis on the need to establish the debt trajectory and to preserve the social security system through reforms that guarantees its financial sustainability in the long term," Rice added.

Though it is difficult to predict how the country's political and economic atmosphere will evolve, the IMF is "very interested" in collaborating with the Brazilian finance minister's team by offering technical assistance and advice, Rice said. Endit