Fraga sees Brazil suffering new lost decade in just 3 years

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRAZIL, 14APR09 - Participants captured during the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 14, 2009. Copyright World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org)/Photo by Bel Pedrosa

Rio De Janeiro / Bloomberg

Brazil’s economy faces a prolonged rout with no recovery in sight, as political uncertainty weighs on investor confidence and structural reforms show no sign of gaining traction, according to fund manager and former central bank chief Arminio Fraga.
Even if President Dilma Rousseff survives attempts to remove her from office, she will be too weak to win approval of measures required to put the economy back on track, Fraga said in an interview. Gross domestic product per capita will decline in three years as much as it did in the so-called lost decade of the 1980s, he said at the Rio de Janeiro headquarters of Gavea Investimentos Ltda., the investment firm he founded in 2003.
“I certainly don’t see a bottom. We’re not muddling through, we’re sinking,” Fraga, 58, said about Brazil’s economy. “If she survives, she still won’t have a mandate to do things. That conspires against much good
happening.”
Fraga says he’s just being realistic about the economy, which according to the IMF will contract for a second straight year in 2016 before posting zero growth in 2017. His comments echo fellow fund mangers such as Luis Stuhlberger at Fundo Verde, who said this month that asset prices may drop further if the government fails to contain rising debt. That failure prompted Standard & Poor’s this month to downgrade the nation further into junk territory.
Brazil’s eroding fiscal accounts have contributed to a 29 percent decline in the real over the past year, which the government contends will make exports more competitive. Fraga said those benefits have been largely offset by a decline in the terms of trade. Brazil’s Finance Ministry didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

2018 Election
The 2018 presidential election stands as a possible watershed moment, as Brazilians may pick a leader who could revive growth and adopt fiscal discipline, according to Fraga, who was the main economic adviser to the runner-up in the 2014 race, Senator Aecio Neves.
“I could see that, although there’s no guarantee. This is fertile ground for populism,” he said.

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