Padraic Fallon, chairman of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, presents Euromoney's annual finance minister of the year award to Mexico's José Angel Gurría and the central bank governor of the year award to Brazil's Armínio Fraga at this year's IMF/World bank meetings in Washington. In a heartfelt speech, Gurría laid out his hopes for the future. "Next year we will have had five straight years of growth in Mexico: a first since the 1970s." He underlined his wish to convince foreign direct investors: "You can do business in Mexico and plan five, 10, 15 years ahead."
Gurría knows that foreign investors generally fear elections in Latin America: "We are working to make sure we won't have an economic crisis in next year's political transition, which would be a first in decades."
Fraga, seemed a little stunned to receive the award after just eight months in the job, and took care to share the credit for Brazil's pull-back from the brink, following real devaluation. World financial markets were braced for dire events in Brazil at the start of the year.