The Brazilian Central Bank (BC) president, Roberto Campos Neto, said he would do whatever was within his reach to bring the institution closer to the government.
The statement was made on Monday night, 13, during an interview on the Roda Viva program on TV Cultura.
“The Central Bank is a State institution; it must always work with the government. We are always open to collaborating. I will do everything within my reach to bring the Central Bank closer to the government”, he stressed.
The statement comes when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT, progressive-globalist) criticizes the Central Bank’s maintenance of interest rates at 13.75%.
Besides, the PT criticizes the autonomy of the agency.
When asked about his relationship with former ministers and former members of the Bolsonaro government, Campos Neto emphasized the importance of differentiating proximity from the independence of action.
“I think it is important to analyze what has been done regarding performance,” he commented.
He cited the most significant interest rate hike in an election year in Brazil’s history, twice as big as the one in 2001, to reinforce his independence in office.
The Selic started the year at 2% and, in five months, jumped ten percentage points the last year.
“If the Central Bank had been lenient, if it had wanted to participate politically, it wouldn’t have raised interest rates, it would have even made a policy to burst inflation, but it was something it didn’t do.”
Campos Neto, the institution’s president since 2019 after being nominated by then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL, right), still added that every government beginning is followed by interest rate growth.
According to him, the Central Bank kept the Selic at the same level after the first meeting of the PT government.
“Another important thing we have been alerting in all the minutes is the existing fiscal problem.”
“And it was very common in the past, when we warned, in all the PECs, starting with the emergency PEC, the kamikaze PEC, the precatórios PEC, every time the Central Bank warned, look, there is something fiscally that is generating noise, there is something that violates the ceiling.”
“Every time the Central Bank did this, Minister Paulo Guedes complained. We see that this is a process,” he added.
With information form Jovem Pan