Brazilian president forecasts economic growth
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva predicts that Brazil will expand this year as the economy was well prepared for the global financial crisis.
During an address at an investor conference in New York, he contradicted Morgan Stanley Bank’s predictions that the country’s financial system will contract by 4.5 per cent in 2009.
"We will grow in 2009 less than what we would like, less than we could grow if there was no external crisis. But we will grow," he said
President Lula da Silva admitted that the country is facing financial turbulence that it did not create but remains optimistic for the future.
The Brazilian leader is currently in the US following a meeting with president Barack Obama at the White House, during which they discussed the economy, energy and the environment.
President Obama described the talks as a "wonderful meeting of minds" and praised the Brazilian administration’s "progressive" and "forward-looking" attitude.
