Read the text below entitled “Brazil's big challenge ahead of Rio 2016” so as to answer question:
Brazil´s big challenge ahead of Rio 2016
Source: www.guardian.com.uk (Adapted)
Aug 26th, 2012
Many Brazilians watched the closing ceremony of the London Olympics with trepidation. “Do you think we will be able to manage anything more than a couple of carnival fl oats, some football and traffi c jams?” mused one of my friends.
It is a few years since I have heard such expressions of national self-doubt. When I fi rst arrived in Brazil, almost 10 years ago, the country had just elected its fi rst leftwing president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva. Both the currency and stock exchange were in freefall as investors took fright.
Lula's fi rst term in offi ce combined cautious economic orthodoxy and some critical social reforms. The minimum wage was raised signifi cantly and an innovative cash transfer called Bolsa Família introduced for poor families. A start was also made in reforming the Brazilian justice system. At the same time the government kept an eye on public spending, ran a primary budget surplus and began to reduce the national debt.
These days the scenario has been changing.
Economic growth stalled last year, choked by a hugely
overvalued currency. This year looks even worse, as export
demand has been hit by the global recession. While the
government's success in reducing its still astronomically
high inequality was a spur to domestic demand, economic
growth was underpinned by the export of primary
commodities such as soya, coffee and iron ore.