The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) hosted a seminar on The Rise and Fall of Brazil’s Economic Growth on March 13, 2023 from 4.00-5.30 pm IST. Former World Bank Country Director for India, Roberto Zagha spoke on the issue, followed by a discussion with Anoop Singh, Member of India’s 15th Finance Commission & Distinguished Fellow, CSEP. The session was chaired by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission & Distinguished Fellow, CSEP.

This discussion took place at the CSEP auditorium in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi and also via Zoom.

About the event:

After experiencing some of the fastest rates in the world, economic growth in Brazil came to an abrupt halt in the 1980s, a halt from which it has yet to recover. In the last decade growth has actually deteriorated even further. This talk documented the extent of this decline, explored the structural and policy reasons behind this evolution, and strategies that could possibly reverse these trends.

Speaker: 

• Roberto Zagha: A Brazilian national, Roberto Zagha was formerly in the World Bank, where he worked on macroeconomic issues in Latin America, Africa and South Asia. He is the principal author of the World Bank report (Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reforms) on growth and reform experiences in the 1990s, a two-year program which reviewed growth experiences in the 1990s and explored the policy thinking that guided them. Subsequently he became the secretary of the Commission on Growth and Development, a group of high level experienced policy makers dedicated to exploring the ingredients of successful growth experiences after WWII, whose results were published in the Growth Report. After working on macroeconomic issues in India for two decades, he was appointed Director for the India World Bank program in 2009-2012. He is now a regular contributor to Valor Econômico, a São Paulo based national economic newspaper.

Discussant:

• Anoop Singh: Anoop Singh is Distinguished Fellow at CSEP and was Member of India’s Fifteenth Finance Commission. Among his previous positions, he had a long and illustrious career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where his appointments included being Director of the Asia Pacific Department, Director of the Western Hemisphere Department, and Director of Special Operations in the Office of the Managing Director. He was also Special Adviser to then Governors of the Reserve Bank of India, IG Patel and Dr. Manmohan Singh, and has taught at Georgetown University in Washington DC as an Adjunct Professor. Professor Singh’s recent publications include a book titled Asia and the Changing Global Economy: Rebuilding Growth Potential and articles including India’s Public Financial Management System: Need for Reforms and Way Forward; and India’s Human Capital: The Regulatory Context for Leveraging Federalism. Other publications include The Financial Market Crisis and Risks for Latin America; Macroeconomic Volatility: The Policy Lessons from Latin America; Inclusive Growth, Institutions, and the Underground Economy; Sustaining Latin America’s Resurgence: Some Historical Perspectives; Stabilization and Reform in Latin America: A Macroeconomic Perspective on the Experience Since the 1990s; and Macroeconomic Issues Facing ASEAN Countries.

Chair: 

• Montek Singh Ahluwalia: An economist, and civil servant, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Government of India. He joined the Government in 1979 as Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, after which he held a series of positions including Special Secretary to the Prime Minister; Commerce Secretary; Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs; Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Member of the Planning Commission and Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. In 2001, he was appointed as the first Director of the newly created Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund. He resigned from that position in 2004 to take up the position of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission which he held from 2004 to 2014. He co-authored Re-distribution with Growth: An Approach to Policy, which, published in 1975, was a path-breaking book on income distribution. In February 2020, he published his book, Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years, an insider’s account of policymaking from 1985 to 2014. For his outstanding contribution to economic policy and public service, he was conferred the prestigious ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 2011, India’s 2^nd highest civilian award for exceptional and distinguished service.

Please contact Aruna Bose at Abose@csep.org for event-related or media inquiries.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.