Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has suggested that the massive wildfires that have engulfed vast swathes of Amazon rainforest could have been started by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to make his administration look bad.

"Maybe – I am not affirming it – these (NGO people) are carrying out some criminal actions to draw attention against me, against the government of Brazil," Bolsonaro told reporters in Brasília.



“It could be ranchers. Everyone is suspicious, but the biggest suspicion comes from NGOs,” Bolsonaro added. When asked to provide evidence to back up his claims, he gave none but pointed out that charities have lost funding since he took office.

“NGOs have lost money... they are unemployed. What are they trying to do? Bring me down,” he claimed. Bolsonaro has also dismissed international NGOs and European leaders as foreign meddlers into national affairs.

"There is a war going on in the world against Brazil, an information war," Bolsonaro said.

Based on satellite imagery, Brazil's National Institute of Space Research (INPE) said there have been 74,155 fires in the Amazon this year as of Tuesday representing an 84 per cent increase from the same period last year.