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The International Monetary Fund said Thursday it will close its Brazilian office, a day after receiving harsh criticism from Economy Minister Paulo Guedes over its forecasts for Latin America's biggest economy.

The IMF said it would close its office in Brasilia when the current country representative's mandate expires on June 30, 2022.

The move came after Guedes, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's ultra-liberal economy guru, said the IMF was overly pessimistic in its forecasts on Brazil and was no longer welcome.

"They can go take a walk," he said Wednesday.

https://www.barrons.com/news/imf-pulls-out-of-brazil-after-economy-minister-s-ire-01639695907

RIO DE JANEIRO — The call went out across Telegram late last month. Brazil’s far right, which has in recent months migrated to the messaging app by the millions, had a new goal: Help President Jair Bolsonaro win the reader’s poll for Time magazine’s 2021 Person of the Year.

“INVITE PEOPLE TO CLICK ON THE LINK AND VOTE,” one user urged the 47,000 followers of the ultraconservative Telegram group Right Channel.

In the end, Time this week named billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk its Person of the Year. But the Tesla and SpaceX executive didn’t get the most reader votes — not by a long shot. That honor belonged to Bolsonaro, who won in a landslide, garnering one-fourth of the 9 million votes — twice as many as his closest competitor, friend Donald Trump.

https://archive.vn/Qc6wx