Hunger, precariousness in the job market and erosion of purchasing power caused by inflation, which remained in double digits for almost a year, still challenge the speech of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), campaigning for reelection, about Brazil resurrecting with a thriving economy.
Despite two consecutive months of deflation (drop in prices) driven by the reduction of ICMS rates on fuel and electricity, the IPCA (Broad Consumer Price Index) has accumulated a high of 8.73% in 12 months.
The increase in the cost of food in the same period reached 13.43%, although the pace of increase lost strength in August (0.24%).
Expensive food punishes the poorest in particular. The lunch or dinner menu does not always go beyond the rice and beans dish at the house of Francisca Maria do Nascimento Bezerra, Dona Caçula.
“Sometimes we think [carne] in the trash can and eats, but when it’s time to buy, only from month to month, he buys a chicken, bacon. You can’t buy red meat, no”, says the woman who lives in a vulnerable situation and disinfects food taken from the trash with lemon and vinegar before consumption.
Youngest child pays BRL 200 per month for an apartment in a low-income group in Brasília. To work as a recyclable material picker, however, she ends up living with her husband alongside other families in a squat in the Northwest.
At 55 years old, she earns up to R$350 a month from what she collects by bicycle on the streets. As her husband receives the BPC (Benefício de Prestação Continuada), which pays a minimum wage to low-income elderly people and people with disabilities — the case of Caçula’s husband — she is not entitled to Auxílio Brasil.
“The guy who buys the material is saying that it will go down more and more, things are going to get more difficult, everything going up, rice, oil and beans are very expensive,” says the collector.
The story of Caçula and her neighbors shows a different reality than that expressed by Bolsonaro, who said that there is no “real hunger” in Brazil.
In a speech at the commemorations on September 7th in Brasilia, the president went so far as to say: “When it seemed that everything would be lost to the world, behold, Brazil reappears, with a thriving economy, with one of the cheapest gasoline in the world, with one of the most comprehensive social programs in the world, which is Auxílio Brasil, with a record in job creation, with inflation plummeting”.
The 2nd National Survey on Food Insecurity in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil, by Rede Penssan (Brazilian Network for Research in Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security), indicated that 33 million people are hungry in the country.
The study also shows that 6 out of 10 Brazilians live with some degree of food insecurity. In all, there are 125.2 million people in this situation – an increase of 7.2% since 2020.
“Food insecurity, which is a public health problem and compromises the future of society, is related to several causes. Unemployment, the fall in average family income and inflation are among them”, said sociologist Rogério Baptistini, professor from the CCSA (Center for Social and Applied Sciences) at Mackenzie University.
Expensive food has led the middle class to change their shopping habits. Elis Regina Dias de Assis, a public servant, is always attentive to promotions and does not get attached to brands when choosing products.
With the rise in prices, consumption of red meat has decreased, has avoided buying beans and started making homemade bread. Occasionally, take home a carton of milk.
The tighter budget led Elis Regina to change her plan at the gym, to leave her own car parked in the garage and go to work by public transport. She looked for an apartment with a cheaper rent, although farther away.
“Six times the minimum wage was once a good thing, it’s not anymore. My standard of living has decreased, yes. Now, we have to think carefully before buying a lot,” he says.
Economist Heron do Carmo, a professor at FEA-USP (Faculty of Economics and Administration at the University of São Paulo), points out that “even if inflation gives some relief from now on, it is not possible to [o consumidor] forget the balance of previous increases”.
Inflation, which was in the double digits from September 2021 to July this year, has eroded the purchasing power of Brazilians over the last year.
Food prices are indirectly linked to fuel prices. The liter of gasoline became cheaper in Brazil amid the ICMS cut. The downward movement, however, was not followed at the same pace by diesel, affected by a mismatch between world supply and demand as a result of the Ukrainian War.
Flávio Console, in the cargo transport business since 1994, has suffered from the drop in his profit margin in recent months. He is determined to sell his “second home”, a truck that has been with him for 12 years.
“A long time ago, our fuel cost per trip was around 40%. Just fuel, today it reaches 60% of the freight value”, said the driver, as he prepared to take the road towards Araguari (MG ), taking soybeans for export.
On average, he makes two trips a week. “A R$ 4,400 freight trip, round trip is 740 km, the cost is in the range of R$ 2,600 just for oil [diesel]”, he detailed. “That’s not counting tires, vehicle wear, driver work, food, tolls. It’s getting hard to work in this business.”
The aid distributed by the government to truck drivers in six monthly installments of R$ 1,000 until December is not enough to make Console give up leaving the roads.
In the view of experts, another politically sensitive point for the Bolsonaro administration is the precariousness of the job market.
Although the unemployment rate dropped to 9.1% in the quarter ended in July, the number of informal workers reached 39.3 million, according to the Pnad Contínua (Continuous National Household Sample Survey), released by the IBGE.
Caio Cardoso, in recent months, has been working as a painter alongside his father, working as a bricklayer’s helper and participating in the assembly of tents for events, a service that earns him R$120 a day.
“We do what appears at the moment until the work is registered”, says the resident of Ceilândia.
He worked for three years in cleaning and another one in gardening, as a micro tractor operator, in a general services company. He saw the workload increase after cutting 50% of staff during the pandemic until his contract was terminated.
“I live on rent, I have my wife, my son. We do whatever we can”, he says. In August, he received the last installment of unemployment insurance of R$1,200. The drop in income in the coming months worries Cardoso, father of a 2-year-old boy.
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