Not long ago, I got a call from a New York-based accountant asking if what he was seeing was true: a Brazilian savings account statement showing double-digit monthly returns. “Oh yes,” I told him. It was absolutely normal – and the best deal in town! Just leave your cash parked in a bank and watch it grow.
Fast forward just a couple of years and, well, things have changed. At 2.25%, the basic interest rate has been cut eight times in a row since last year. If you’re an old Brazilian like me, a rate that low sounds like science fiction.
By Cecilia Tornaghi via Americas Quarterly