O Brasil como credor a dívida britânica -1940/52

Abstract

This article has two objectives: to establish the history of the accumulation and uses of Brazilian sterling balances - a theme which dominated Anglo-Brazilian relations in the 1940s - and evaluate the net costs for Brazil of what was equivalent to extending a sizable involuntary long term loan to the United Kingdom. Though Brazil recovered its blocked balances it suffered considerable losses as the relevant interest rate paid by Britain (as from 1947) was extremely low and British export prices increased very substantially. If Brazilian forecasts of future cotton prices had been similar to Keynes's a substantial part of these costs could have been avoided. The quality of Brazil's economic diplomacy in this episode was below the standards reached in the 7930s and early 1940s. This contrasts with British economic diplomacy as Britain's credibility remained unscathed in spite of the reduction in the purchasing power of sterling balances.