Today, we talk about the wedge between Jair Bolsonaro and his Economy Minister, Paulo Guedes. China threatens Brazil with “negative consequences.” And the highest Covid-19 transmission rate in six months.
Exclusive: Growing tensions between Bolsonaro and his Economy Minister
Economy Minister Paulo Guedes threatened to resign on Tuesday, according to senior government sources who spoke to Brasília correspondent Débora Álvares. During a visit to President Bolsonaro’s office, Mr. Guedes warned he would walk unless his boss supported the Economy Ministry’s reform proposals, drawn up to avoid losing support from business sectors who are “already fed up with the administration’s lack of economic results.”
- Tantrums by Paulo Guedes are not uncommon, multiple cabinet members told The Brazilian Report. And while the idea of losing his guarantor with financial sectors once scared Jair Bolsonaro, that is no longer the case. Aides who witnessed the meeting between Mr. Guedes and the president called it just “another huff that will soon fade away.”
Context. The Economy Minister has been informed that neither the tax reform bill nor the administrative overhaul proposed by the government will advance in 2020, as there is simply not enough time in the congressional calendar. January is likely to be...