Brazil's election and the economy
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 7 July 2022
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Brazilians will go to the polls to elect their next president in October. With Jair Bolsonaro trailing in polls behind former leader Lula da Silva, many voters say the economy is their main worry.
We speak to small business owners in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, to get their thoughts on how financial concerns may influence voters’ choices. Mauricio Moura, founder of polling company IDEIA, tells us that the economy has never been as crucial going into a Brazilian election in modern history as it is this year.
Former Central Bank governor Gustavo Franco says he’s concerned that some people have forgotten the country’s struggles with high levels of inflation in recent decades. Solange Srour, Chief Economist of Credit Suisse Brasil, says the reduction in government benefit payments introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic have dented the president’s popularity. And Wilson Ferrarezi from TS Lombard tells us that the most pressing structural challenge for whoever wins the vote in October is reforming Brazil’s tax system. With additional reporting by Sarita Reed in Vitoria, Espirito Santo.
Presenter / producer: Tom Kavanagh Image: Homeless people in Sao Paulo; Credit: NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP via Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On the podium, the podcast where Olympic and Paralympic athletes share their remarkable personal journeys. |
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| 0:20.0 | Hi there. I'm Tom Kavanaugh. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:25.4 | Coming up today, Brazilian voters go to the polls in October to choose their president. |
| 0:31.1 | As in many parts of the world, people are concerned about the rising cost of living. |
| 0:36.0 | Nowadays, people are just surviving. |
| 0:38.0 | If you ask people, hey, how are you? |
| 0:40.2 | They say, I'm surviving. |
| 0:42.1 | And that's not very much at all. |
| 0:44.0 | We hear from the former central bank governor credited with bringing runaway inflation under control in the 90s. |
| 0:51.0 | Why is it a particular concern for Brazil? |
| 0:53.8 | 12% per year inflation seems harmless to many people. |
| 0:58.8 | It is not. |
| 0:59.8 | It's like people that were on drugs. |
| 1:02.8 | Small doses can bring the whole thing back. |
| 1:06.0 | And how important is the economy in determining how Brazilians will cast their votes. |
| 1:11.4 | Since 1994, that was an election that Brazil was basically fighting inflation. |
| 1:17.8 | I haven't seen in the numbers and the data the economy as important as it is today. |
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