The Brazilian Real continued its bearish trend against the US Dollar yesterday, plummeting by 1.5 per cent against its North American rival.
The US Dollar to Brazilian Real (USD/BRL) Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 2.2583
The currency has now fallen for five consecutive days as the social unrest sweeping Brazil worsens and investors abandon emerging market currencies in reaction to the Federal Reserve’s recent policy announcement.
With over a million people lining the streets of Brazil’s cities last night, what started as a peaceful demonstration descended into violent chaos.
Yesterday evening saw the first death to have occurred in the ongoing protests regarding the nation’s socio-economic divide. Although hundreds were injured in various altercations with police, the single death – that of 18 year old Marcos Delefrate – occurred when a Land Rover ploughed into a small crowd in Ribeirao Preto.
According to one former official: ‘These protests can’t be calmed just with talk. The government needs to come up with concrete answers for this movement not to spin further out of control’.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has held an emergency meeting discussing what action can be taken to help bring the situation to a quick and calm conclusion. Rousseff has cancelled a state visit to Japan in order to get a handle on the crisis, and her aides have met with people representing the protestors to discuss their concerns regarding the state of healthcare, education and public transport.
But it may take some time to appease the populace.
As political analyst Castro Neves observes: ‘More and more the middle class is focusing on the quality of life agenda. They don’t just want a cell phone, they need the phones to work well. They don’t just want cars, they want cars that can ride on the street without traffic jams or potholes.’
Other factors weighing heavily on the Real include relatively poor national economic growth in 2012, and the battering emerging market economies have taken since the Federal Reserve intimated that it intends to reign in quantitative easing by mid-2014.
Current Real (BRL) Exchange Rates
The Pound Sterling/ Brazilian Real Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 3.4963 <
The Euro/ Brazilian Real Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 2.9850 >
The US Dollar/ Brazilian Real Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 2.2583 >
The Australian Dollar/ Brazilian Real Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 2.0851 >
The New Zealand Dollar/ Brazilian Real Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.7076 <
The Canadian Dollar/ Brazilian Real Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 2.1119 >
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