Bloomberg News, a newspaper co-founded by Michael Bloomberg, the 12th richest person in the world on the Forbes list, sees reason for optimism in Brazil despite the fierce electoral dispute.
The editor-in-chief of economics and government for Latin America at Bloomberg, Juan Pablo Spinetto, writes an article in which he defends optimism about the Brazilian economy, the largest in the region. Economic activity has steadily recovered since the early years of the Covid-19 crisis, says Spinetto, and unemployment, despite being above 9%, “is at its lowest value in almost seven years”.
There are more than four million additional jobs compared to the pre-pandemic scenario, reports Bloomberg, although salaries are generally low. The cost of living has increased, but inflation has been contained at 3.4 percentage points in the last four months, with the expectation that it will close the year just above 6%. Brazil currently has a primary surplus of 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product, compared to a deficit of 9.4% in December 2020.
There is concern that the next federal government will raise taxes and cause tax loopholes, but the situation is “probably far from critical.”
With these results, “it is not surprising that the Brazilian real is the best performing currency in the world,” says Spinetto. He distributes the credit to the administrations of the last two decades, for having invested in infrastructure: airports, highways, ports and irrigation canals are better now than they used to be. Other improvements mentioned are payments via Pix and investment options via Whatsapp.
As an example of Brazil’s economic strength, the editor mentions agribusiness, which is “remarkably productive”: Mato Grosso currently has the same cost to export a ton of soybeans to China as the US state of Iowa.
For Spinetto, Brazil also benefits from its less contentious international stance than Russia and China. The country still suffers from major social problems, a lot of poverty, educational losses and environmental crises. But many domestic economic actors, despite election anxiety, do not expect to change their plans much depending on who wins the presidential race. This is a sign of political stability that may escape the eyes of those around here, but it catches the attention of outside observers like the newspaper.
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