The Brazilian government is on the verge of collapse after the supreme court opened an investigation into President Michel Temer, following accusations of passive corruption, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Regardless of whether the president himself survives, the government’s reform agenda is now severely jeopardised with potentially disastrous consequences for an economy that appeared to be on the way out of its worst recession on record. “The Temer government is dead; what remains to be seen is how it will be buried,” MCM Consultores, a financial consultancy, wrote in a note to clients on 18 May.