Lula skips G20 summit due to deadly Brazil floods

TORONTO,  (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz  Inacio Lula da Silva will skip the Group of 20 leaders summit  in Toronto this weekend to deal with the aftermath of severe  flooding in northeastern Brazil that has killed 51 people.

The northeast region is a political stronghold for Lula’s  government ahead of presidential elections in October in which  the popular Lula wants Brazilians to elect his former chief of  staff, Dilma Rousseff.

“He doesn’t want to be away from Brazil at this difficult  moment,” a source from Brazil’s G20 delegation said yesterday.  The government later confirmed that Lula would miss the  summit.

The Brazilian source said that Lula, whose home state of  Pernambuco is one of those affected by the disaster, had been  shocked by the destruction he saw when flying over flooded  areas on Thursday.

The G20 is meeting Saturday and Sunday to seek a consensus  on how quickly to shrink government deficits, how best to  strengthen banks so that they can withstand any new downturn,  and how to harmonize financial regulatory reforms.