March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian central bank president Henrique Meirelles said his county's economy can weather a possible default by the Argentine government on its $3.1 billion debt to the IMF, Brazilian newspaper Estado de S. Paulo reported.

The Brazilian economy's fundamentals have improved in the past year, and the country is more resilient against external crises, the newspaper cited Meirelles as saying at a Bank for International Settlements conference yesterday in Basel, Switzerland.

The central banker told Estado that Brazil is joining the group of countries that are experiencing sustainable growth.

During a press conference at the event, European Central Bank president Jean Claude Trichet did not mention Brazil or Latin America as regions that would perform well this year, Estado reported. Trichet told reporters that Asian emerging markets are becoming the drivers of world growth, the paper said.

(Estado de S. Paulo, 3-9)

To contact the rerporter for this story: Dan Shirai in New York at dshirai@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 9, 2004 03:16 EST