Brazil virus payout cuts extreme poverty to least in decades
4 years, 5 months ago

Brazil virus payout cuts extreme poverty to least in decades

Associated Press  

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s extreme poverty has plunged due to a monthly federal handout during the coronavirus pandemic, but threatens to bounce back once the government ceases the stopgap welfare program, a report said Tuesday. The study by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university and think tank, said the number of Brazilians living in extreme poverty fell to 6.9 million in June, or 3.3% of Brazil’s population — the lowest level since the late 1970s. I fear we can go back to even worse levels if the labor market doesn’t recover.” The payments have already cost the government more than $32 billion and President Jair Bolsonaro’s economy minister, Paulo Guedes, has said its coffers can ill afford to maintain the program much longer. “Without controlling the epidemic there is no economic recovery,” Marcelo Medeiros, a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Brazil LAB who specializes in inequality, said by phone from New Jersey.

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History of this topic

Hardship for Brazil’s poor may cost Bolsonaro election
2 years, 3 months ago

Hardship for Brazil’s poor may cost Bolsonaro election

Associated Press  

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s presidential election will be decided by tens of millions of poor people, and they look set to eject incumbent Jair Bolsonaro from office — either in Sunday’s first round or in a runoff. The race’s frontrunner, leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is rekindling memories of his 2003-2010 presidency, when many poor Brazilians could …

Brazil scrambles to help the poor, while they barely hang on
3 years, 6 months ago

Brazil scrambles to help the poor, while they barely hang on

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has …

Brazil scrambles to help the poor, while they barely hang on
3 years, 6 months ago

Brazil scrambles to help the poor, while they barely hang on

Associated Press  

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has asked supermarkets to lower prices of staple foods and his economy minister suggested homeless people could live off restaurant leftovers. The pandemic is our ultimate test, and we’re losing the war.” Among Brazil’s 15 million unemployed is Sergio Alves, 52, a resident of the working-class Babilonia neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro …

Brazil’s economy grows more than expected in first quarter
3 years, 7 months ago

Brazil’s economy grows more than expected in first quarter

Associated Press  

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of 2021, continuing its rebound from pandemic recession as many declined to hunker down amid COVID-19’s brutal second wave. Latin America’s largest economy grew 1.2% from the fourth quarter, according to data the national statistics agency released Tuesday. “Even with the second wave of the COVID-19 …

Brazil’s COVID economic rebound is stronger than expected
3 years, 7 months ago

Brazil’s COVID economic rebound is stronger than expected

Al Jazeera  

Latin America’s biggest economy grew 1.2 percent in the first three months of the year on a quarterly basis, led by a jump in agriculture and a surge in investment. Brazil’s economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of 2021, continuing its rebound from a coronavirus pandemic recession as many declined to hunker down amid COVID-19’s brutal second …

Withdrawal of pandemic welfare fuels poverty in Brazil
3 years, 7 months ago

Withdrawal of pandemic welfare fuels poverty in Brazil

Associated Press  

SAO PAULO — The pandemic shantytown sprang up virtually overnight when people began using scavenged wooden boards to build shacks on a plot of empty land in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city. It will be difficult to survive.” Last year, Brazil’s government provided payments totaling almost 300 billion reais that reached 68 million people, about a third of the population. …

Argentina sees steep climb in poverty due to coronavirus
3 years, 9 months ago

Argentina sees steep climb in poverty due to coronavirus

Al Jazeera  

In the 31 large cities studied, the poverty rate rose from 40.9 percent to 42 percent within a year, official data shows. The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has worsened poverty in Argentina, with some 12 million people in urban areas unable to afford a basket of basic food or essential services in the second half of 2020, official …

Brazilians thrown back into poverty as COVID aid dries up
3 years, 9 months ago

Brazilians thrown back into poverty as COVID aid dries up

Al Jazeera  

That nearly $60bn burst of basic income softened the economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic, boosted President Jair Bolsonaro’s popularity and beat back poverty — but its expiration at the end of 2020 is unravelling many of those effects. From April to December, she and some 66 million other Brazilians received money from the government’s most generous cash transfer programme …

Brazil economists call for tougher measures as cases ramp up
3 years, 9 months ago

Brazil economists call for tougher measures as cases ramp up

Associated Press  

RIO DE JANEIRO — Hundreds of Brazilian economists, including former finance ministers and central bank presidents, urged the Brazilian government in an open letter published on Monday to speed up vaccination and adopt tougher restrictions to stop the rampant spread of COVID-19. “This recession, as well as its harmful social consequences, was caused by the pandemic and will not be …

Brazil economists call for tougher measures as cases ramp up
3 years, 9 months ago

Brazil economists call for tougher measures as cases ramp up

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Hundreds of Brazilian economists, including …

Brazil economy faces headwinds after worst plunge in decades
3 years, 10 months ago

Brazil economy faces headwinds after worst plunge in decades

Associated Press  

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil dodged the most dire economic forecasts in 2020, but official figures released Wednesday show the COVID-19 pandemic still battered the nation and it continues to dim the outlook for recovery. Brazil’s gross domestic product contracted 4.1% in 2020, the biggest annual recession since the series began in 1996, according to Brazil’s official statistics institute, known …

Brazil’s poor squeezed by less virus aid, surging food costs
4 years, 3 months ago

Brazil’s poor squeezed by less virus aid, surging food costs

Associated Press  

RIO DE JANEIRO — Many people in Brazil are struggling to cope with less pandemic aid from the government and jumping food prices, with millions expected to slip back into poverty. Brazil’s government, starting this month, halved the amount of its monthly emergency cash transfers to help Brazil’s poor withstand the hardship of the economic meltdown, down to 300 reais. …

Brazil’s Disastrous COVID-19 Response Exposes Profound Inequalities
4 years, 7 months ago

Brazil’s Disastrous COVID-19 Response Exposes Profound Inequalities

Huff Post  

SÃO PAULO and BRASÍLIA — Brazil’s death toll from the coronavirus surpassed Italy’s on Thursday after the nation’s health ministry reported 1,437 deaths in the previous 24 hours. Epidemics bring differences to the forefront and also the lack of support from the government,” José Cássio de Moraes, an epidemiologist at the Brazilian Association of Public Health, told HuffPost Brazil. “We …

The Coronavirus Pandemic Could Force Half A Billion People Into Poverty
4 years, 9 months ago

The Coronavirus Pandemic Could Force Half A Billion People Into Poverty

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world could lead to 580 million people ― 8% of humanity ― being pushed into poverty and see an increase in global poverty for the first time since 1990. “Just imagine that times half a billion going on all over the developing world right now,” said Max Lawson, …

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