Brazil’s Market Revolution

By Mary Anastasia O’Grady. Excerpts:

"Brazilian inflation is now around 3.5% a year, and real interest rates have dipped to between 2% and 3%. Credit-default risk is easing, the stock market is climbing, and forecasts for growth are improving—though still well below what Brazil needs to become a developed country.

This brighter outlook, after nearly three years of recession, began during the presidency of Michel Temer, who took over after Workers’ Party President Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016. But it has gained momentum since the inauguration of President Jair Bolsonaro in January."

"Mr. Bolsonaro has already won approval of a long-overdue reform of the pension system, launched an aggressive privatization program, and won the passage of laws to reduce the regulatory burden on business.

The Journal’s Paulo Trevisani reported on Sept. 23 that the government is “opening up one of the world’s most closed big economies, slashing import tariffs on more than 2,300 products and exposing local industries long accustomed to protectionism to the challenges of free trade.”"