Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, is in buoyant mood. “Brazil came into the crisis later [than the rest of the world] ... and has every chance of coming out of it more quickly,” he tells the Financial Times.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: ‘Our biggest concern is that there should be no reversal of our achievements in terms of employment and income for millions of the poorest Brazilians’

It is a message that is playing well with the majority of Brazilian people. A nationwide opinion poll last month showed his approval rating at an all-time high of 84 per cent – an extraordinary level for a president midway through a second term, crisis or no crisis.