Brazil’s economic outlook darkens as debt soars

Brazil’s debt burden steadily climbed during Lula’s third term and the deficit hit a recent record high. New figures showed Brazil’s debt picture is by some measures its worst in a decade, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing recently reelected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Brazil’s debt burden steadily climbed over Lula’s third term and the deficit hit a record high; his reelection tanked Brazilian markets, reflecting investors’ fears the country’s fiscal picture will only worsen under his tenure as economic growth is forecast to cool in the years ahead and new benefits — including a reduction in the working week and an expansion of housing and education support — take hold. “Another Lula government is unlikely to deliver the structural reforms Brazil needs, ” a Bloomberg columnist argued.