As Brazil’s Economy Recovers, Its Politics Disintegrate Again

Brazil’s embattled President Michel Temer cut a low-key figure at last week’s G-20 summit, so low-key that it was not he but his finance minister who was listed on the official welcome brochure as the country’s representative.

The omission was the result of the president’s last-minute decision to attend the event in Germany rather than deal with the political crisis brewing in Brasilia. Temer was among the last to arrive, the first to leave and during his 36 hours there drew little public attention. By contrast, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles spent nearly three days in Hamburg, assuring the international community that whatever the state of the country’s politics, the economy was in safe hands.