In this week’s issue: The most important facts of the week. Jair Bolsonaro on a collision course with industry. How isolated is Brazil’s economy?
The week in review
- Fiscal bombs. With just 10 bills that passed in 2018, Congress has set up a BRL 259bm “fiscal bomb” for the future Bolsonaro administration. The bills include tax breaks for automobile manufacturers, debt pardons for rural producers, and the controversial pay rise for Supreme Court justices. Taking the federal spending cap into account, this means Jair Bolsonaro’s administration will have to cut expenses elsewhere – which could compromise the quality of public services and damage his approval ratings early on.
- Car Wash.Anti-corruption investigation Operation Car Wash is back. On Thursday, ten Rio state lawmakers were arrested for operating a bribery scheme, and on Friday beef baron Joesley Batista, owner of the JBS meatpacking firm, was once again put behind bars, for violating terms of his plea deal with authorities and hiding information from prosecutors.
- Petrobras.Brazil’s oil and gas company posted disappointing quarterly profits (BRL 6.6bn against BRL 9-10bn forecasts), due to settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice. Also this week, a report by anti-corruption NGOs highlighted “opaque relations” between the...