This week, we talk about how the coronavirus chips away at Bolsonaro’s legitimacy among voters. The arrival of Covid-19 to Rio’s favelas and the risk that poses.
Bolsonaro’s legitimacy crisis
Few governments have been so timid in their reaction to the novel coronavirus than Brazil’s. President Jair Bolsonaro has proved to be a skeptic, calling the disease—which has infected 343,000 and killed 15,000 people worldwide—a “little flu.” His son is picking fights with China, Brazil’s top trading partner. And his Economy Minister continues to resist spending any money to prevent a full-scale economic—and social—collapse.
Why it matters. In our March 20 Daily Briefing, we brought you a terrible forecast: Brazil could have a 20-percent unemployment rate by the end of this crisis. Turns out that might be the best-case scenario. During a live Facebook broadcast with other business leaders, Guilherme Benchimol, chief operating officer of brokerage XP, said he expects unemployment figures to hit as high as 40 percent.
Too small to fail. Mr. Benchimol—alongside leaders of other major corporations—urged the government to launch a “true plan of economic rescue, like the Marshall Plan,” targeting small and medium-sized companies which have much less cushion against a crisis of this magnitude.
...