The Collor government, also referred to as the Collor Era, was a period in Brazilian political history that began with the inauguration of President Fernando Collor de Mello on March 15, 1990, and ended with his resignation from the presidency on December 29, 1992. Fernando Collor was the first president elected by the people since 1960, when Jânio Quadros won the last direct election for president before the beginning of the Military Dictatorship. His removal from office on October 2, 1992, was a consequence of his impeachment proceedings the day before, followed by cassation.
At the time, the national media also referred to the government by República das Alagoas (English: Republic of Alagoas). "It was synonymous for trouble. Journalists love labels, and that one seemed perfect," Ricardo Motta recalls.
The Collor administration registered a 2.06% retraction in GDP and a 6.97% retraction in per capita income.
Among the main laws sanctioned, the following can be cited: Consumer Defense Code (1990), Statute of the Child and Adolescent (1990), Law of the Legal Regime of Public Service Employees (1990), SUS Law (1990), Rouanet Law (1991), Law of Administrative Improbity (1992).
Presidency
Economy
Collor Plan
The year before his administration began, official inflation measured by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics reached the unbelievable amount of 1,972.91% and, for this reason, President Collor elected as his priority the fight against spiraling inflation through the so-called Plano Brasil Novo (English: New Brazil Plan), popularly known as the Plano Collor (English: Collor Plan). The plan was the fourth attempt undertaken by the federal government to combat hyperinflation, three of which were undertaken during the Sarney Government. The country's economic situation was so perilous that the discussion did not revolve around the adoption of economic measures, but when and how these measures would be implemented. On the eve of his inauguration, Fernando Collor asked the Sarney government to declare a bank holiday, which only increased speculation about the measures that would be announced.
The day after his inauguration, Collor presented his economic plan: he announced the return of the cruzeiro as the monetary unit to replace the cruzado novo, which had been in effect since January 15, 1989, when the last economic crisis sponsored by his predecessor took place. The cruzeiro would return to circulation on March 19, 1990, in its third and last incursion as national currency, since it would be replaced by the cruzeiro real in 1993. In addition, Collor's measures for the economy also included impact actions such as: reduction of the administrative system with the extinction or merger of ministries and public agencies, dismissal of public employees, and the freezing of prices and salaries.
During his administration, the country opened up to the external market, and efforts were made to eliminate or reduce anti-import barriers, adopting economic liberalization measures in favor of Brazil's insertion in the globalization scenario. At the beginning of the government, the Industrial and Foreign Trade Policy (PICE) was launched, with the objective of increasing competitiveness and reducing the national industry's delay, acting internally with privatizations and externally with tax and foreign trade reform. In a trip to Switzerland in 1990, Collor said that "Brazilian cars are carts". Besides the automobile market, the computer market was also leveraged by the opening of trade. Another sector impacted was the cultural one, as it became more accessible and less expensive to release records.
Confiscation of savings
One of the important points of the plan included the confiscation of bank deposits exceeding Cr$50,000.00 (fifty thousand cruzeiros) for a period of eighteen months, aiming to reduce the amount of money in circulation, as well as changes in the calculation of monetary correction and in the operation of financial investments. Even though bank confiscation was a flagrant disrespect to the constitutional right to property, the economic plan led by Minister of Economy Zélia Cardoso de Mello was approved by the National Congress in a matter of days.