Brazil scrambles to help the poor, while they barely hang on

Brazil saw its highest unemployment and economic inequality in at least nine years in the first quarter of this year

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has asked supermarkets to lower prices of staple foods and his economy minister suggested homeless people could live off restaurant leftovers. It marked a sharp contrast from days earlier, when both boasted their policies had restored the economy to pre-pandemic levels. The desperation for stopgap solutions reflects recent recognition that Brazil’s economic rebound was largely driven by the agriculture sector and investments, while the poorest citizens saw their footing slip further. In the first quarter of 2021, Brazil’s unemployment — officially 14.7% — and economic inequality reached their highest levels in at least nine years. The cost of living has surged — from food to rent and cooking gas — and tent cities and shantytowns have emerged. A record drought threatens to send electricity prices soaring. That has left governments, companies and nonprofits scrambling to help the poor with welfare, gas subsidies, food donations, cellphone chips and solar panels — anything to get through 2021 as the pandemic continues raging. It’s a display of Brazilian ‘'jeitinho’' — a knack for improvising solutions in the face of adversity — but also shows how many are barely hanging on, with catastrophe just a few unpaid bills off.