BRAZIL: Brazil left-wing president-elect, Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, pledged yesterday to quell his nation's financial turmoil and put Latin America's largest country back on the road to sustained growth.
Following his watershed political victory on Sunday to become the country's first elected left-wing leader, the man known simply as Lula called on multilateral lenders like the IMF to stand by Brazil at the same time he promised to fight to reduce hunger among the country's 50 million poor. "Yesterday, Brazil voted to change, the electorate decided on a new path for the country," Mr Lula da Silva told hundreds of reporters in a plush hotel in the financial district of Sao Paulo after his victory in the election run-off.
"This implies the start of a new historic cycle." Mr Lula da Silva, who created his Workers' Party in 1980, won 61 per cent in the run-off, defeating Mr Jose Serra, the candidate of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's ruling coalition.
It was Mr Lula da Silva's fourth bid for the presidency. He will be sworn in for a four-year term on January 1st, next year.
Brazilians from the Amazon jungle in the north to the industrial south celebrated the former metalworker's win as Mr Lula da Silva prepared a government to replace Mr Cardoso, whose eight years in office have yielded mixed results for the country.
While Mr Cardoso defeated hyperinflation and attracted tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment, unemployment is at its highest level since early 2000 and real wages are falling. While promising his first priority was Brazil's 170 million people, Mr Lula da Silva said he would also address the concerns of investors, who have been on tenterhooks for months at the prospect the world's ninth-largest economy is turning left.
"We will face up to the current external vulnerability of the Brazilian economy, a crucial factor in the financial turbulence of the last months, in a safe way," Mr Lula da Silva said.
The man who once led striking workers against Brazil's 1964-85 military government added he would push for the quick passage of reforms to Brazil's tax and social security systems - changes long sought by impatient financial markets.
Markets, including stocks, bonds and the local currency - which has lost nearly 40 per cent of its value against the dollar this year - were mostly unchanged after Mr Lula da Silva's much-awaited statement following a slightly weaker opening. - (Reuters)