(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s finance minister Fernando Haddad has canceled a trip to Europe this week amid extended losses of the real and uncertainty over the amount of spending cuts the government is considering.
Haddad postponed the trip, due to start Monday, on the request of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to a statement from the finance ministry on Sunday. Haddad will work in Brasilia over the next week focusing on “domestic topics,” according to the statement. The Europe trip’s agenda will be resumed “in due course,” it said.
Brazil’s real was the worst performing emerging-market currency on Friday amid concerns about fiscal slippage, Lula’s commitment to spending cuts and the outcome of the US presidential election. There were concerns that the government could delay the announcement of a spending cut package with Haddad’s trip to Europe. The real fell as much as 1.5% against the dollar on Friday, with traders pricing the benchmark Selic rate closer to 14% at the end of the current tightening cycle.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.