November 29, 2018
Jair Bolsonaro’s ascension to the presidency may give Brasileiros the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, but it is not without risks: his bona fides as a free-market champion are unproven, and the durability of his relationship with his economic adviser, Paulo Guedes, has come into question. That Congress has also shifted to the right should be reassuring. The president-elect will need to quickly build a coalition if he is to pass the reforms that are his mandate.
It would be easy to reduce Mr. Bolsonaro’s victory to yet another populist upheaval, but changes of this magnitude are only possible with a functioning democracy. StepStone remains sanguine on private markets in Brazil. Beyond the resiliency of its institutions, many of the factors that have long made us bullish on the world’s ninth largest economy are still in play.
Bruna Riotto and Alberto Basave from StepStone’s Latin America team share additional insights on recent political changes in Brazil and Mexico and what those changes could mean to investors.
