At the start of the month, Brazilian officials announced that Brazil is currently in its worst recession in the past 25 years. This is the longest recession since the 1930s. Brazil's economy was booming from 2003-2010 under their former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Now, their economy is in serious trouble. Unemployment increased from 6.8% to 8.5% over the past year. The current president (Rousseff) is trying to appoint the former president to her cabinet. However the courts are in the process of deciding whether or not to allow the former president to be added to the cabinet. Also, the IMF projects that the economy will shrink by 3.5% this year, so it appears that there is very little hope for Brazil's economy as of now. It will be interesting to see Rousseff's next step in this situation, especially since her approval ratings are very low, and their were many protests in the past week demanding for her impeachment. Also, it will be interesting to see if the economy can improve if the Brazilian Supreme Court rules in favor of the appointment of da Silva.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/17/news/economy/brazil-rousseff-lula-economy/index.html
I don't think it should be a problem for their former president to be added to the cabinet, given the economic boom they felt under Silva. It seems like they should make an effort to allow this to happen given that their economy has worsened so significantly over the past year and could likely get worse.
ReplyDeleteSo I am from Michigan and this entire story sounds despondently familiar. Kwame Kilpatrick anybody? However, this is on a far more destructive level. I find this article rather disheartening for a several reasons. Primarily, I think it is scary that this is the second country within this year to bring up a stir (in terms of potential recession). Second, this whole ordeal I fear, threatens Brazils stability. Generally when a great leader’s defamation occurs that is bad news for a country and possibly worse news for a developing country. When this occurs other countries may see this country as unstable, which like many things in economics then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unfortunately, this is sounding more and more like the beginnings of a global recession.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting because the summer olympics are going to be held in Rio de Janeiro. I don't know whether this will help in the long run but I think that it will really boost their economy in the summer, so hopefully this will give them an opportunity to bounce out of this recession that they are in
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate to see that there aren't any glimpses of improvement headed Brazil's way. Considering the point that Brad brought up about the Olympics, I would agree that it may help the overall economy, but the preparation for the Olympics might not be something that Brazil can handle financially at a time like this for them.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see that another country is nearing a recession. Unfortunately, it seems quite inevitable in this day and age. Brad brought up an interesting point about the Olympics. I am not sure that the Olympics will help in the long run. Sometimes the costs of the preparation for hosting the games end up outweighing the increased tourism in the country.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Brazil is yet another nation that may be nearing a recession is extremely disheartening and frightening. Global instability has already worried US consumers and economists alike, and the more news that comes out in support of that, the worse it looks like it could be. Corruption has been widespread in Brazil as well as there have been many negative reports regarding the conditions of the upcoming Olympics. As of now, there is not much hope for a rapid turnaround out of Brazil.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a good idea to appoint the former president to cabinet, since during his time the economy was doing fairly well. I understand that Brazilian's are upset with the current president and they want to impeach her but it might not be the best option. This can potently cause more problems.
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