Another day, another macro-prudential measure from Brazil. In early April, Guido Mantega, finance minister, announced a doubling in the tax due on personal loans, from 1.5 to 3 per cent a year. Measures like this have let Brazil reduce its reliance on high interest rates, formerly its only weapon against inflation.

The trouble with high rates is they drive the currency higher and that hurts competitiveness – hence the whole currency war. But you cannot have everything and, with inflation pushing higher, Brazil appears to have decided that the strong real is its friend, after all.

With consumers paying 238.3 per cent a year for credit card debt, it is hard to see how an extra 1.5 points will make much difference. But as Tony Volpon at Nomura points out, the measure may curb supply of credit (rather than demand) because wider spreads provoke more defaults, so banks may lend less.