There was an official index, named "correção monetária" (literally: "monetary correction"), which was basically tracking the inflation index. Everybody's salary

There was an official index, named "correção monetária" (literally: "monetary correction"), which was basically tracking the inflation index. Everybody's salary and the amount of money in the savings accounts had to be increased every month by this index. The idea was that you didn't lose money because it would be corrected every month. At least if you assume that the official inflation numbers were accurate. But the moment you had money in hand, you had to spend it as soon as possible or soon it would be worth nothing.