摘要：Following decades during which endemic weaknesses
and inadequate control of the public finances contributed
importantly to macro-economic instability in
Brazil, the country embarked in the late 1990s on a
sustained fiscal adjustment, marked by high and rising
primary surpluses of the consolidated public sector.
The adjustment reflected strengthened policies;
institutional improvements; and, especially since the
mid-2000s, the beneficial effects on the public finances
of a favorable external environment (strong external
demand, high commodity prices and low international
interest rates) and of increased domestic policy
credibility. The resulting moderation in the public
debt and the improvement in its structure allowed a
strongly countercyclical response to the downturn in
activity in the wake of the global financial crisis of
2008–09. As a result, the Brazilian economy emerged
from the downturn with remarkable speed and relatively
small economic and social costs.
