A year later, seven promises of Brazil's president Michel Temer that are on hold or lost

One year ago Friday, then Vice-President Michel Temer took over Brazil’s presidency from Dilma Rousseff, who was suspended and later permanently removed from office after a brutal impeachment fight that exposed deep divisions in Latin America’s largest nation.

In his first speech to the nation, the career politician known for his deal-making skills in Congress promised to unify Brazil and pull the economy out of recession. Below are excerpts of that speech and a look at what has happened with those promises.

“My first word to the Brazilian people is trust”

Brazilians don’t trust Temer, according to numerous polls. In the most recent by the Datafolha Institute, only 9 per cent approve his job performance a year into office, four points below Rousseff at the time she was suspended. Seventy-one per cent of those polled reject the reforms he is proposing. If he ran for re-election in 2018, only 2 per cent would vote for him, according to the poll, which interviewed 2,781 people April 26-27 and had a margin of error of two percentage points.

However, there is a small improvement in trust in the economic recovery. According to think tank Fundacao Getulio Vargas, consumer confidence stood at 82 points in April, nine points higher than the same month one year ago. A business index points to a 0.5 per cent growth of the economy in 2017. By comparison, Brazil’s gross domestic product contracted 3.6 per cent last year.