In an interview with London newspaper the Financial Times, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed his belief in the power of the Brazilian economy. “Brazil entered this crisis later [than the rest of the world…] and has every chance of leaving it more quickly,” he said.

Lula’s faith is backed up by positive figures from 2008, “an excellent year” in which the economy grew 5%. The article, published on the Financial Times’ website on 9 March, highlighted Brazil’s steadily rising employment level, alongside a record approval rating for the president of 80% – higher even than his rating immediately after his election victory of 2002.

In another report published on 5 March, U.S. magazine TIME made a deeper analysis of Brazil’s economy and social indices. Earlier crises, in the 1970s and 80s, are remembered for demonstrating the financial mismanagement of the Brazilian economy, but things are a lot more positive this time. The magazine cites the example of Efigênia Francisca da Silva, one of many Brazilians to have joined the middle class in recent years. Ms. da Silva, a resident of a poor community in São Paulo, is one of many to have benefited from government initiatives to encourage new entrepreneurs. Using low-interest bank credits, the housewife opened three stores selling miscellaneous items. She also bought a car. According to TIME, she does not believe the global recession will wreck her dreams, and she trusts President Lula.

Like her, 53% of Brazil’s 190 million inhabitants are now part of the middle class, against 42% in 2002. This increase in social mobility has been mirrored by a soaring stock market, with the Ibovespa (São Paulo stock exchange index) rising 480% before falling back at the end of 2008. The report also highlights that the majority of Brazilians believe the country will weather the crisis better than other countries. Indeed, according to a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Brazil may be the only one of 34 major economies that avoids recession in 2009. Quoted by TIME, Lula said that “capitalism will be a different animal” after the turbulence has passed, adding that “Developing countries will be responsible for a major percentage of world economic growth".

The TIME article also discussed actions taken to make the country more attractive to investors. The federal government is spending US$263 billion on tax breaks and infrastructure. The Growth Acceleration Program, which began in 2007, was cited as an example, as well as Brazil’s international reserves, which reached a record US$208 billion before the crisis began. Another area highlighted in the report was the Brazilian banking system, which “has remained well regulated, and so far seems to have been less exposed to the toxic assets that have wrecked many U.S. and European banks”. TIME quotes Paulo Leme, emerging-markets director at Goldman Sachs, who said that all this has "buffered Brazil quite a bit against the global downturn".

The discovery of massive oil deposits in Brazil’s offshore pre-salt layer, and Petrobras’ major investment program, were also emphasized as positive aspects of the country’s economy.