Brazil has achieved remarkable progress since the mid-1990s, largely owing to a strengthening of public institutions, in particular the inflation targeting framework coupled with exchange rate flexibility and the Fiscal Responsibility Law. Improvement in the social area has also been impressive, with a remarkable fall in poverty and inequality. Most product markets have been opened up, and labour market informality has receded. The country is now reaping the benefits of economic stability and increasing resilience, which, together with a timely macroeconomic policy response combining monetary easing, some fiscal stimulus and credit expansion, allowed Brazil to withstand the 2008-09 global financial crisis well. Real GDP growth of 7.5% in 2010 was the highest since 1986 and the fifth-best performance amongst the G20 countries (Table 1). This robust growth is estimated to have removed all remaining slack from the economy.