Brazil Loses Its Appetite for Economic Reforms

Brazilian President Michel Temer was already deeply unpopular on the street, but now it seems even his congressional support for reforms is vanishing. Rising global oil prices and resultant fuel price increases have created social upheaval across Brazil in the last two weeks as strikes by truck drivers and oil workers have cornered the government ahead of general elections in October, exposing the discontent with the government's economic liberalization measures. With problems on the street and on the campaign trail, the pace of economic liberalization in Brazil might soon slow to a crawl as Temer's erstwhile backers in Congress spend more time considering the upcoming polls than fulfilling the president's agenda....