The decision to approve a 2016 budget guidelines bill that targets a 0.5% primary surplus as opposed to a 0.7% surplus may have been the last straw for (former) Brazilian FinMin Joaquim Levy.
Speculation had been swirling for months that Levy’s exit was imminent as Brazil’s intractable political crisis made pushing unpopular austerity measures through Congress all but impossible for the University of Chicago-trained economist.