FOLLOWING THE MONEY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION OF THE WORLD BANK IN BRAZIL (1990-2020)

Abstract

This article analyses the actions of the World Bank in Brazil from 1990 to 2020. For this, it uses an assessment of the loan portfolio in order to map the purposes funding was used for, measure the weight of the federative spheres as borrowers, understand the reasons which led the Bank to increasingly lend to subnational entities and, finally, to identify the governments which most took out loans and relate them to political parties in power. Also discussed are the ways the Bank acted, and it is argued that loans have a low weight in the Brazilian economy, but function as vehicles to spread ideas, norms and practices which governments should adopt, and how to do so, in questions of public policies. The paper highlights the high relative weight of adjustment loans and shows that, when in government, parties from the center-right tend to resort more to loans of this type than parties of the left.

Keywords:
Fiscal Adjustment; Economic Liberalization; State Reform; Federalism; World Bank; International Cooperation