Allegations that Brazil’s president has been caught on tape endorsing bribe payments shook the country’s financial markets on Thursday, sending shares and the real, Brazil’s currency, sharply lower amid investor fears that his government could collapse.
The charges against Michel Temer, published in the leading newspaper O Globo, forced market regulators to trigger a circuit breaker after the Ibovespa benchmark dropped 10.47 per cent in morning trading.
The real fell 7 per cent against the dollar on fears that the claims would torpedo the government’s reform plan to overhaul Brazil's sinking public finances. Mr Temer has vehemently denied the claims. The scandal threatens to lead Brazil into uncharted waters.