La politique économique du gouvernement Lula : changement ou continuité ?

The first three years of Lula?s government have been marked by several trends, which reveal the fragility of this government?s achievements and underline the country?s increasing economic and social imbalances. The GDP?s erratic growth rate partly results from pursuing the previous government?s macroeconomic policy : a policy of inflation target accompanied by extremely high real interest and public debt rates. The improvement in the trade and current account balances is unrelated to internal factors resulting, rather, from the exceptional dynamism of the prevailing international economic situation. Finally, an important political crisis in 2005 has transformed the Workers Party (which had brought great hopes of change) into a party like any other, resorting to the same means to finance its election or to pass laws in parliament.