Brazil pays off its debt to multilateral institutions

The UN building, in New York City. Photo: Viktor IS/Shutterstock

Brazil announced Thursday that it had paid off its debts to major international institutions, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the World Trade Organization, and the World Health Organization. In a joint statement issued by the Foreign Affairs and Planning ministries, Brazil said it had repaid BRL 4.6 billion (USD 937 million) in debt to international institutions in 2023. This includes BRL 289 million to the UN and a separate BRL 1.1 billion to UN peacekeeping operations.

The payments ensure that Brazil will maintain its voting rights in bodies such as the UN, as well as restore its right to vote in the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Brazil also paid off its debt to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which holds a major climate conference (COP) annually. The city of Belém, the second-largest in the Brazilian Amazon, will host the COP in late 2025.

The statement says the payments “strengthen Brazil’s image on the global and regional international stage, reaffirm the country’s commitment to multilateralism, and reinforce the capacity for diplomatic action in favor of national interests and the principles that govern Brazil’s foreign policy.”

The statement does not mention the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Early last year, the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva put Brazil’s accession to the OECD on the back burner.

Since early November, The Brazilian Report has repeatedly asked both Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry and the OECD whether the country has any outstanding debts to the organization. Asked again today, neither replied.