With his name dragged through the muck on social media as the Brazilian Real reaches new lows on a daily basis amid Covid-19-related panic, Brazil’s economic tsar Paulo Guedes seems a shadow of the man who, less than six months ago, celebrated the approval of a comprehensive pension reform the likes of which none of his predecessors had managed to do. So, what happened?
Paulo Guedes’ astral hell began before the novel coronavirus had even reached Brazil. A mix of weak economic perspectives, miscommunication, political jostling, and a lack of support from President Jair Bolsonaro himself have...