Brazil drowns in its own debt

With public-sector debt ballooning towards 100% of GDP, the state cannot afford generous fiscal support measures for much longer.

Brazil’s democracy is tearing at the seams, says Ryan Berg on aei.org. The country has just surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths, making it the world’s second worst-hit nation. The virus has deepened bitter political divisions. Embattled by Congressional opposition and Supreme Court probes, President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters have called for a military coup. That’s unlikely, but political institutions, already discredited by massive corruption, are entering an advanced state of decay.

A second chance

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.