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Does "broke" here mean "without money"?

Brazil's President Says Country Is 'Broke'

With state subsidies to fight poverty now ended, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday said his country is "broke" and he is unable to do anything about it, attributing the crisis to "the press-fueled" coronavirus.

Source: International Business Times

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    It means having completely run out of money. (Lexico)
    – Void
    Jan 6, 2021 at 15:46
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    If he had said broken it would mean something else. Does that help resolve your problem?
    – mdewey
    Jan 6, 2021 at 15:57

2 Answers 2

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The article goes on explaining that.

Bolsonaro attributes the country's economic collapse to lockdown measures pushed by state governors to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

His statement that the country went broke (or is broke = without money), which might be a bit exaggerated, means the government can't simultaneously tackle the pandemic and bring in the promised tax reforms. In his opinion, there is not enough money to handle both (or that the pandemic took all the resources, a good part of which might have been allocated towards the new tax regulations).

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    Right, that's the answer. Do you know why I wrote the intended meaning in a 'comment'?
    – Void
    Jan 6, 2021 at 16:18
  • @Void, no, you could have posted it as an answer... Jan 6, 2021 at 16:21
  • I had posted it as an answer (only 10k users can see), but I edited it and wrote XXXXXXXX Google it XXXXXXX instead. Should I explain it further?
    – Void
    Jan 6, 2021 at 16:23
  • It's not just exaggerated, it's also non-literal. A country like Brazil can't be "without money" because the government has the ability to just print more if they want. However, drastically increasing the money supply can have very negative effects, which the President wants to avoid. Jan 6, 2021 at 16:53
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Your guess is already correct.

However, depending on the subculture (where broke is preferred over bankrupt anyways), the substitution poor af may be the best fit. :)

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