With Brazil on brink of recession, Bolsonaro scoffs "I said I didn't understand economics"
Brazil's Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE) reported last week that the nation's GDP slid 0.2% in the first quarter. Compared to the first quarter of 2018, GDP grew only 0.5% - its worst result in two years.
This was followed by reports that unemployment rose another 0.5% in April, to 12.5%.
These were unwelcome news to President Jair Bolsonaro, whose right-wing administration is now languishing at around 35% job approval just five months after taking office.
The president, however, remained defiant.
"I already said that I didn't understand economics," Bolsonaro shot back when asked about the recent data. "Those who understood sunk Brazil; I have 100% trust in the economics of Paulo Guedes."
Guedes, Bolosonaro's Economy Minister, has pledged to revive growth in Brazil through deregulation, tax cuts, budget cuts, and privatizations.
This supply-side cocktail, already enacted in neighboring Argentina in 2015 by Mauricio Macri, resulted in the sharpest downturn (6.2% as of March) since that country's 2001-02 collapse - itself on the heels of the similar policies.
Brazil's economy, the largest in Latin America and the 9th largest in the world, is now threatened by recession - something considered unlikely a few months ago. The country had already endured a deep recession in 2015-16, followed by a weak recovery of 1.1% annually in 2017 and '18.
This has left Brazil's GDP at 2011 levels for the last three years.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=pt&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.minutouno.com%2Fnotas%2F5034769-brasil-esta-al-borde-la-recesion-y-bolsonaro-se-ataja-yo-ya-dije-que-no-entendia-economia
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with his supply-side "Chicago boy," Economy Minister Paulo Guedes:
"I told you I didn't understand economics!"
