Obama pressed to tackle crisis

Brasilia - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed hope on Thursday that US president-elect Barack Obama would take immediate and concrete action to resolve the US financial crisis.

"Obama, who just won the elections with a political force never before seen in the United States ... will need to immediately resolve the US crisis, will need to make decisions to avoid a worsening of the situation," Lula said in a speech to business leaders and ministers in his government.

"Now the crisis can be blamed on the current (US) government, but one year from now, if there is no resolution, it will be blamed on whoever took over," Lula said.

"I believe Obama is intelligent enough to take immediate measures to prevent the crisis from spreading and growing larger still."

But Lula also said he felt that "the worst of the crisis has passed."

Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega also spoke about the challenges facing the new US president, saying Obama would need to act quickly to prevent a deep recession.

"Barack Obama has nearly the same challenge that faced (former US president Franklin) Roosevelt in 1933, when he found a country in the midst of a major crisis," Mantega said, speaking of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"The US economy then was wrecked by a recession, but Obama has the advantage because the United States has not yet entered recession," the minister said.

"To be sure, his challenge is to prevent a very deep recession in such a way as to lead to a rapid recovery of the US economy."

On Wednesday, Brazil congratulated Obama on his historic White House victory, with Foreign Minister Celso Amorim saying he hoped Obama's administration would improve ties with Latin America.

- AFP