Numbers of the week: Oct. 10, 2020

This is Brazil by the Numbers, a weekly digest of the most interesting figures tucked inside the latest news about Brazil. A selection of numbers that help explain what is going on in Brazil. This week: PIX, the Central Bank’s new payment system, tourism companies disappearing, high death rates in Peru, Brazil hits 5 million cases, and indigenous candidates in Brazil’s North.

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25 million sign ups for new payment tool PIX

PIX, an instant payment platform created by the Brazilian Central Bank, officially opened registrations at the beginning of the week. Until Friday, the number of ‘keys’ issued to Brazilians reached roughly 24 million. The new payment system, which will allow for instant cash transfers, begins its operation on November 16. Besides allowing near-instant transfers and payments outside of commercial working hours, the system is free to use in sending and receiving money. PIX users will only have to provide their unique key — usually their individual tax ID — in order to receive payments, seen as a revolutionary measure within Brazil’s financial system. 

50,000 fewer tourism companies

Nearly 50,000 companies in Brazil’s tourism industry — accounting for 17 percent of the sector’s employers — went out of business between March and August 2020. The data...