Talking Ourselves Into Recession

Are your constituents around the Americas angry at the United States for not having done enough to avert this crisis?
I haven't seen that in a very public way, because the effects haven't been felt throughout Latin America quite yet. But people are concerned. Take remittances in Mexico: they had been growing by double digits, but last year they grew by only 1 percent. That has an impact. But we haven't seen how this will hit the world quite yet.

Is it paradoxical that some of the strongest economies in Latin America—Brazil, Venezuela—are helmed by more statist-minded presidents?
It's a paradoxical region, and you can't compare one country to the next. Some countries depend on natural resources for their results, but there have been windfalls in agro, in addition to oil. Different governments have to have different policies. Latin America today is democratic—people select the leaders they want. We should respect the outcomes of democracy.

With economies growing so fast, are development banks still necessary in Latin America?
Yes. Our mission is to help in the reduction of poverty. There has been a tremendous reduction in extreme poverty, but with growth comes challenges—the need to improve infrastructure and the quality of education (because growth has produced an emerging middle class).

Venezuela will open its own development group, the Bank of the South. If it makes different conditions for aid, does it pose a threat to the policies you're implementing?
Most of what we do is around transferring knowledge for our projects. The Bank of the South hasn't even been created! It will put fewer conditions on loans, but we have worked with all development banks in the past in each region.

© 2008