Brazil is facing its worst economic crisis in a generation. Some analysts are predicting gross domestic product falls of nearly 4% in 2015 followed by a similar contraction this year and flat economic growth in 2017.
On top of this, interest rates of 14.25% are among the highest in the world, but this has not halted inflation, which is set to hit 7% this year. Government finances are deteriorating and there is continuing political fallout from the Petrobras corruption investigations. Most concerning of all, Brazil’s most impressive success story of the past decade – that of moving lower income families into the middle classes – risks being undone by rising unemployment and falling wages.
