COLUMNISTS The international community has a strong tendency to misjudge Brazil. Seven years ago, international investors fled in fear at the election of the leftwinger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president. They created the buying opportunity of a lifetime. Since then, in dollar terms, Brazil’s Bovespa has gained some 1,100 per cent more than the S&P 500.
In April last year, Standard & Poor’s elevated Brazil’s sovereign credit to investment grade – and almost perfectly called the top before a calamitous collapse.
