Brazil needs to flatten the curve. No, not that curve. Latin America’s most afflicted country (160,000 dead and the health minister hospitalized for Covid-19) is bracing for a second wave of infection without ever having vanquished the first. Now, however, another more familiar scourge is cresting: inflation.
After a punishing first semester, with industrial output crashing by a record 27% from February to April, a recovery is stirring. A third quarter rally brought Brazilian manufacturing nearly to pre-pandemic levels, well ahead of its battered neighbors. A surprising 313,564 formal sector jobs were created in September (albeit amid record unemployment). That’s the good news.
Read Full Article »