Today, we talk about Brazil’s 2020 GDP: glass half-full or half-empty? Bolsonaro’s vaccine U-turn. And the president’s dwindling support base.
GDP: Brazil no longer in the world’s top 10
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics published the country’s official 2020 GDP numbers, bringing a glass-half-full-or-half-empty scenario. The -4.1 percent growth was Brazil’s worst economic slide in 30 years, rounding off a decade of economic stagnation. However, the GDP results were not as dreadful as initially expected.
- According to consultancy Austin Rating, the coronavirus-led crisis pushed Brazil out of the world’s top 10 economies, dropping it down to 12th — below Canada, South Korea, and Russia. This year, Brazil could drop even further, to 14th.
- All sectors of the economy shrank last year, with the exception of agriculture — which grew 2 percent.
Why it matters. Brazilians’ average income fell 5.5 percent in the decade that ended in 2020. That is a worse performance than in the 1980s, which are known in Brazil as the “lost decade.”
- The examples of long periods of impoverishment are rare in economic history and are usually associated with events such as wars, political ruptures, or global crashes. This time around, the pandemic helped...