Brazil sacks IMF office over estimate complaints, says 'not useful anymore'

President Jair Bolsonaro’s government is kicking out the International Monetary Fund’s permanent representative to the country as complaints about the institution’s economic estimates escalated into a diplomatic spat.
 

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Wednesday Brazil won’t recognize the IMF’s office starting from June 30, when the current representative is due to be replaced. He cited the country’s performance during the pandemic as an example of the institution’s failures: gross domestic product shrank about 4% in 2020, way less than the Fund’s estimated contraction of more than 9%.

“The IMF was useful in the past, but Brazil has done an extraordinary