Brazil's Rousseff rides anti-graft wave, for now

Stuart Grudgings – Reuters, 11/07/2011

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff addresses a news conference at the end of the G20 Summit in Cannes November 4, 2011. REUTERS/Yves Herman

It lacks the fervor of the Arab Spring but the resignation of six ministers from Brazil’s government, the approval of transparency laws and the emergence of an angry middle class show that Latin America’s giant is stumbling toward cleaner government.

That should eventually make Brazil, which loses up to 2.3 percent of its annual economic output to corruption, more efficient in its public spending and a better place to do business.

In the short term, however, the effects are less predictable as center-left President Dilma Rousseff tries to harness public anger without provoking a rebellion in her old-school ruling coalition that could further delay crucial economic reforms.

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