BRAZIL The Big Ticket Brazil’s lower house of Congress on Wednesday approved a bill to overhaul the country’s pension system, setting it up for likely passage in the Senate in September. Under debate for more than a year, the reform is a key step to reducing the country’s massive budget deficit and an essential part of President Jair Bolsonaro’s plans for revitalizing the flagging economy, Reuters reported. According to Bolsonaro’s government, the overhaul will save the treasury 933 billion reais ($235 billion) over the next decade by raising the minimum retirement age and reducing some workers’ benefits. Last month, the government posted a primary fiscal deficit of 12.7 billion reais ($3.35 billion), the agency reported separately. The country’s gross debt stood at 78.7 percent of gross domestic product and its net debt rose to 55.2 percent of GDP. Under some circumstances, that’s not a terrible ratio, but the eighth largest economy in the world is still reeling from a commodities bust that brought its soaring 7.5 percent GDP growth in 2010 to -3.6 percent in 2016, noted financial website thebalance.com. And its sovereign bonds are rated below investment grade (or “junk”).