Brazil’s Economics Minister Quits: Zelia Cardoso de...

Brazil’s Economics Minister Quits: Zelia Cardoso de Mello resigned after a 14-month struggle to rein in the country’s astronomical inflation rate. The resignation had long been rumored, although the government has made progress against inflation. It was running at a monthly rate of 85% when Cardoso de Mello took office in March, 1990. Under a price freeze decreed Jan. 30, it is down to 10% a month. But union officials, business leaders and political parties have criticized the program, saying it has failed to ease unemployment or boost falling industrial production.