As recently as 2007, Brooke Unger at The Economist posed the question, “Brazil is big, democratic, stable and rich in resources.  So why is it not doing a lot better?”

With a population of almost 200 million, its economic growth rate - at 3.3% - felt anaemic next to other emerging markets.  Yet Brazil was also one of the last big countries to enter recession during the credit crisis and the first of the G20 nations out of it. From having one of the most economically unequal societies in the world they are now right about average.