see the facts that have marked the sector in 2018

In 2018, Brazilians witnessed a still slow recovery of the country's economy. In May, the truck drivers' strike stopped the country, affecting production performance and GDP. After the interruption, the government began to subsidize the price of diesel, while that of gasoline continued to be published.

The dollar and the stock market have experienced oscillations, motivated by internal and external factors such as the October elections and the trade war. between the United States and China.

Truckers Strike

At the end of May, Brazil stopped for ten days during the biggest strike in more than 20 years. Unhappy with the daily rise in diesel prices, truckers have crossed their arms and blocked roads across the country, causing shortages of food and fuel in the country.

Successive meetings between the government, badociations and entities ended without agreement. The roads were only released after army trains, the Federal Highway Police, the Brazilian Air Force and the Military Police. started escorting the trucks.

In return, the government introduced a reduction of R $ 0.46 per liter of diesel, calculated on the basis of a subsidy. The era of shortages has led to the downturn in the economy. According to the Ministry of Finance, the strike cost 15 billion rubles, or 0.2% of GDP.

The government also began to compile road freight. In December, a preliminary injunction of the Federal Supreme Court suspended the recovery of a fine on the part of those who broke the table, but the decision was annulled a few days later.

Price of gas and departure of the president of Petrobras

As the government began to subsidize diesel, the gasoline continued with the price made public. The truckers' strike caused the departure of Pedro Parente from the Petrobras presidency, which was then headed by Ivan Monteiro.

In September, the state-owned company, which holds the refining monopoly in the country, announced a change in its pricing policy and began to revise the price of gasoline in refineries every 15 days instead of daily adjustments.

At the end of September, international oil prices began to fall, but consumers are not affected by this decline.

GDP

At the end of May, in the country, the truckers' strike was not the only cause of the slowness of economic recovery. External uncertainties caused by the trade war between the United States and China, the emergence of a Euro-coalition coalition in Italy, the reversal of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and the tension of the electoral process in Brazil further reduced the estimates of GDP. Initially, the growth forecast had fallen to 1.6%. During the last weeks of the year, the Central Bank further reduced the projection to 1.3%, only half of the GDP initially estimated for the year.

Dollar

The stock market experienced strong fluctuations during the year, due to internal and external factors. Internationally, the trade dispute between China and the United States and US monetary policy have led to an appreciation of the US dollar against the currencies of emerging countries.

With the rise in the US interest rate, investors with capital in emerging countries, such as Brazil, may prefer to resort to this country and invest in US Treasury bonds, considered as the safest roles in the world. . With less dollars on the market, the price of money has increased.

On December 19, the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the Central Bank of the United States, increased its interest for the fourth time this year, from 2.25% to 2.5%, the highest level since the beginning of 2008.

Internally, the price of the currency was affected by the October elections. The peak of the dollar's rise occurred in mid-September, reaching R $ 4.19 its highest level since the beginning of the Real Plan.

After the definition of elections, the quote fell, reaching $ 3.64 during the day of October 29th. However, with the rise in US interest rates, the dollar rose again and reached R $ 3.90 in early December of this year.

Bolsa de Valores

] External and internal effects also affected the main stock market index in Brazil. On June 18, Ibovespa closed down 1.33% with 69,814 points, against 70,000 unrecorded points since August 2017. This is the lowest level recorded this year.

After the elections, on October 29, the Ibovespa recorded 83,796 points and closed the month on the 31st at 87,423 points. During the eleven months of this year, the Ibovespa accumulated a gain of 17.15%, ending the month of November at 89 504 points.