Presidency of Michel Temer 31 August 2016 – 1 January 2019 | |
Vice President | None |
---|---|
Cabinet | See list |
Party | MDB |
Seat | Alvorada Palace Jaburu Palace |
|
The presidency of Michel Temer began on May 12, 2016, when the vice-president of the Republic, Michel Temer, temporarily assumed the position of president of the Brazilian Republic, after the temporary removal of President Dilma Rousseff, as a result of the acceptance of the impeachment process by the Federal Senate.[1][2] Once the process was concluded, on August 31 of the same year, Temer took over the position permanently, which he held until January 1, 2019, when the administration of Bolsonaro began.[3]
Temer became president in the midst of a serious economic crisis in the country. At his inauguration, he stated that his government would be a reformist one.[4][5] During his administration, several economic measures were approved, such as the control of public spending, through Constitutional Amendment No. 95, which imposed limits on future federal government spending, the 2017 labor reform and the Outsourcing Law. There was also a proposed social security reform, which the government failed to push through. Changes were made in the social field, such as the completion and inauguration of part of the São Francisco River transposition project, the reform of high school education and the establishment of the National Common Curriculum Base.[6][7]
While Temer was in office, the involvement of allies, ministers and the president himself in corruption scandals caused controversy. Despite this, the government managed to maintain a solid base in Congress, which made it possible to approve reforms "necessary to stimulate economic growth", according to him.[8][9][5][4] However, the administration was accused of backtracking by organizations and experts, particularly in the social and environmental areas and in the indigenous issues.[10][11][12] According to opinion polls by different institutes, the government had the lowest popular approval rating in the country's history.[13][14]
According to data from the Central Bank, the IBGE, Caged and the São Paulo Stock Exchange, during his two years in office, the government reduced the interest rate from 14.25% to 6.50% a year; inflation fell from 9.32% to 2.76%; the unemployment rate from 11.2% to 13.1%; the dollar rose from 3.47 to 3.60 reais and the Bovespa index rose from 48,471 points to 85,190 points.[15] Temer benefited from the improvement in his government's economic indices to record a video talking about good news in the economy and comparing it to the economic data from the Dilma government. "With these resources, the government will close the accounts for 2018 and guarantee compliance with the so-called golden rule," said Temer, adding that "Petrobras reached the highest market value in its history, 312.5 billion reais" and that Brazil "was considered by 2,500 top executives from around the world to be the second main destination for foreign investment in the main industrial sectors". Temer also said that in 2017, the Correios made a profit of 667 million reais. "This, by the way, is the first profit since 2013, when the company began to record consecutive losses until 2016," said the president.[16][17]