

Memories from the time before the Real Plan and the “millions” in worthless notes of the couple from Belo Horizonte, José Adão dos Santos, a taxi driver, and Alair da Conceição Nogueira dos Santos, a retired teacher, help us to better understand the situation of Brazil at two different times.
These memories are far from the current reality: in contrast to old notes that could have a face value of half a million, in 2020, for example, the rarely seen R$ 200 note featuring the maned wolf was put into circulation.
Shedding light on this path is the economist Diogo Santos from the Ipead Foundation (Institute of Economic, Administrative, and Accounting Research of Minas Gerais), linked to the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), an institution with 75 years of work.
“The Real Plan, in itself, had nothing more than the objective of controlling inflation. However, if we understand it as the set of macroeconomic changes carried out by the federal government in the following years, we can say that it meant an adaptation of the Brazilian state and economy to provide more freedom and guarantees to the national and international financial sectors,” says Santos.
According to the economist, the Real Plan left both positive and negative legacies. In the former case, it ended the period of high inflation that the country had been facing since the mid-1980s. In the latter case, it created a trap of low economic growth.
“To sustain price stability, the exchange rate and the interest rate were kept at a level that harmed domestic production, especially the industry and consequently the creation of jobs with higher pay.
Even today, the country is suffering the negative effects of these factors. We are experiencing deindustrialization,” states the researcher.
Parity with the dollar and full shelves
The real, which initially had parity with the dollar (R$ 1 = US$ 1) and allowed supermarket shelves to offer many imported products, has since 1995 suffered a devaluation of 560%. One of the symbols of the economic program, the chicken, whose kilo cost R$ 1, is now a thing of the past.
“Currently, with that value, you can’t even buy the chicken skin. Just as a comparison, the price per kilo of chicken is between R$ 9.90 and R$ 12.99, while chicken feet (per kilo) are in the range of R$ 14,” says Celso Roberto Souza, owner of Açougue Diamantina, an establishment in the Feira dos Produtores.
“At the beginning of the Real Plan, with a minimum wage of R$ 70, it was possible to buy 70 kilos of chicken, but everything has changed,” says Celso, alongside his youngest of three children, Rodrigo Emanuel Reis de Souza, a 21-year-old history student.
Celso Roberto de Souza remembers the R$ 1 chicken. Rodrigo finds it difficult to conceive the pre-Real situation Edésio Ferreira/EM/D.A Press
Facing the EM team are two generations of Brazilians. For Rodrigo, it is still difficult to understand the economic changes and the successive programs attempted to contain hyperinflation, and the cuts of zeros from the currency.
The father, who already worked in commerce in his hometown, Diamantina (in the Jequitinhonha Valley), and gradually became more experienced, saw new opportunities and came to Belo Horizonte at the beginning of the Real Plan, where he now has two meat businesses. “You can’t miss out on opportunities in life,” he believes.
Through the butcher shop window
Looking at the meat offerings for sale, retired Maria do Socorro Castro Rocha, a native of Pernambuco and resident of the Cidade Nova neighborhood, has witnessed the economic changes and hasn’t forgotten the Conversion Table of the Real Value Unit (URV), published daily starting from March 1, 1994.
When the real came into play, Rubens Ricúpero took over the economy, as FHC became a presidential candidate – later elected riding on the economic plan.
Currency stability, says Maria do Socorro, allowed many families to buy apartments, cars, as they felt more secure. “In Brazil, we always need courage.
The real certainly brought more security. Before, we only bought what we could afford, everything was very difficult,” says the married Pernambuco native, who has four children.