Food prices must be at the top of a list with the many economic variables a Brazilian president must be attentive to — as they weigh disproportionately on the poor and spark disgruntlement among a significant proportion of the electorate. Jair Bolsonaro knows this — and all the alarm bells have rung in Brasília as official inflation data was released today. The overall rate shows a rate of mere 0.7 percent since the beginning of the year, on pace to finish 2020 far below the government’s 4-percent target.
But Brazilians are beginning to feel the rise in food prices, which fuels...