Brasil abandona FMI?

As storm clouds gather over the international economy, Brazil's government is giving serious consideration to the idea of "graduating" from the IMF when its present IMF program expires. While politically attractive, at least in the short term, such a course of action is likely to prove to be a costly mistake for Brazil. For when the international going gets rough, markets will again want to be reassured by the external macro-economic discipline normally associated with IMF programs, particularly given Brazil's many unresolved financial market vulnerabilities.