Brazil will chair the IDB for the first time; Golfajn won

For the first time in the 62 years of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) stays Brazil with the presidency of the multilateral.

Ilan Goldfajn, former Brazilian central banker and former director of the Western Hemisphere department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) won the presidency with the support of 80% of the countries eligible to vote.

In his victory, the support of the United States was decisive, whose sympathy granted 30% of the votes and Argentina, which on Saturday night declined in favor of the Brazilian, giving him another 11% of the vote necessary for victory since yesterday. With them, plus the support of Brazil, which also gave him 11.3% of the vote, Goldfajn had 52% of the vote since yesterday.

In second place was the candidate from Chile, Nicolás Eyzaguirre, who obtained 9.93% of the total vote and in third place was Gerardo Esquivel, candidate from Mexico, who arrived with 8.21% of the total vote.

With his arrival at the IDB, Goldfajn becomes the seventh president of the multilateral, after the dismissal of the American Mauricio Claver Carone.

Goldfajn comes to the Inter-American Bank facing the sharpest slowdown in the United States, the upward trend in world rates and pressured inflation, as he explained to El Economista.

Then, Goldfajn said that this environment could lead to a moderation in capital inflows to emerging countries and would cause more pressure on inflation.

As regional exchange rates depreciate, imported products will become more expensive and this in turn will have a negative impact on local inflation and growth.

“The negative impact of tighter global financial conditions in the region will tighten the cost of financing and moderate portfolio flows.”

For the IMF expert on Latin America and the Caribbean, the region’s central banks have made important progress in building resilience to external shocks.

It refers specifically to the creation of greater international reserves, stricter financial regulations, as well as the tightening of interest rates to face local inflation.