100 Cruzados (Abolition of Slavery) – Brazil

In 1988, Brazil was in the throes of a profound economic crisis defined by hyperinflation and a succession of failed currency plans. The period was marked by the final years of the military dictatorship's transition to democracy, culminating in the promulgation of a new democratic constitution that same year. However, this political milestone was overshadowed by severe economic instability, with inflation reaching an annual rate of over 1,000%. The national currency, the Cruzado (which had replaced the old Cruzeiro in 1986), was rapidly losing value, eroding wages and savings and creating immense social hardship.

The currency situation was a direct result of chronic fiscal deficits, indexed financial mechanisms, and a loss of monetary control. The government's response prior to 1988 had been a series of heterodox shock plans, most notably the Cruzado Plan (1986) and the Bresser Plan (1987), which implemented price freezes and created a new currency in an attempt to break inflationary expectations. By 1988, these plans had clearly failed, as suppressed inflation returned with devastating force. The economy was trapped in a cycle where widespread indexation of contracts and wages automatically passed past inflation into future prices, creating an inertial inflation that persisted regardless of demand.

Consequently, 1988 stands as a year of escalating desperation and the prelude to further drastic measures. The failure of the previous plans left the public deeply skeptical of government economic interventions. As price freezes were abandoned, inflation accelerated unchecked, setting the stage for the even more radical Summer Plan (Plano Verão) that would be launched in January 1989. This plan would introduce yet another new currency, the Novo Cruzado, and implement a new set of freezes and fiscal adjustments, continuing a turbulent cycle of crisis and short-lived stabilization that would define the Brazilian economy until the successful Real Plan in 1994.