Interview with Brazil President scores points, anchors rich package on BRIC countries

Reuters set the news agenda in Brazil with an exclusive interview with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He told us on June 10 that Brazil would lend the IMF $10 billion as part of its push to reform the multilateral lender, and that he would ask fellow BRIC countries Russia, India and China to forge a common position with Brazil on change in the IMF and the U.N. Security Council. Lula also announced changes to industrial tax breaks and carbon emission policy, while reassuring investors on central bank independence. The interview was the centrepiece of a global package looking at the rise of the BRIC economies and its implications, which was timed ahead of the inaugural summit of the BRIC countries. The Lula interview ran prominently across Brazilian media.