The coronavirus crisis led the Brazilian Stock Exchange to record, in the first quarter of 2020, the biggest quarterly devaluation in history. From January until this Tuesday (31), the Ibovespa accumulated a fall of 36.85%, overcoming the decline of 1986, according to data from Economatica. That year, the stock market fell 36.25% in the third quarter with the failure of the Cruzado Plan.
In March, the Ibovespa accumulated a devaluation of 29.90%, the fourth-worst monthly performance in history, behind March 1990 and June 1989, periods marked by hyperinflation, and August 1998, the year of the Russian crisis.
The dollar has the third-highest quarterly increase in the Real Plan. The 29.5% appreciation in the first three months of 2020 is second only to the third quarter of 2002, before Lula's election for the first presidential term, and to the first quarter of 1999, when when the Central Bank (BC) closed fixed exchange rate policy.
This Tuesday, the currency ended the session quoted at R$ 5.1990, up 0.34%. At the maximum, it reached R$ 5.2150, but lost strength with the auction of US$ 755 million in cash from the BC. The dollar level is close to the nominal record (not counting inflation) of the 18th, of R$ 5.2010.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon