Brazil demands explanation over US spying on IMF

The White House however officially has not acknowledged that it spied on them

Brazil called an unscheduled meeting of the International Monetary Fund executive board today to discuss reports that the United States spied on the institution, the country's IMF representative told AFP.

"A meeting was held on my request... I wanted to have some explanations," said Brazil's executive director at the IMF, Paulo Nogueira Batista.

Nogueira Batista would not divulge what was said at the meeting, citing the directors' obligation to keep their discussions confidential.

But the meeting was the first public sign from the institution of anger over reports that the US National Security Agency had extended its massive efforts to spy on both US rivals and allies to the IMF and the World Bank.

According to news reports late last month, citing unnamed US officials, President Barack Obama ordered the NSA to end its electronic surveillance of the two global financiers.

But the White House officially has not acknowledged that it spied on them.

Nogueira Batista, whose government has directly protested to Washington over the NSA's purported tapping of the email of President Dilma Rousseff, said as the country's executive director at the IMF he had a right to call the unscheduled executive board meeting.

He said that IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde did not attend the meeting.

Both the IMF and the World Bank have refused to comment officially on the issue.

"We are aware of the news report and have no comment to offer at this stage," an IMF spokeswoman told AFP today.