Selic will not react to high frequency data, says Brazil’s Central Bank president

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Participating in BTG Pactual’s MacroDay 2021, Campos Neto stated that the Central Bank is following the components of the inflationary process but that “changes in the flight plan” will not always occur.

The president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, repeated that the Central Bank will act to control the advance of inflation and that measures are planned. But he stated that the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) would not act on each new “high frequency” change.

Campos Neto participated in a panel this Tuesday, 14, at MacroDay 2021, the BTG Pactual bank event.

“Saying that we are going to do what needs to be done to reach the target means that we are going to take the Selic to where it needs to be taken. But it doesn’t mean that we will always react to high-frequency data,” he said.

Campos Neto stated that the Central Bank is following the components of the inflationary process and the changes in the short term, but that there won’t always be “changes in the flight plan”, whose focus is on a “long horizon”.

The IPCA, Brazil’s main inflationary index, was 9.68% in the 12-month accumulated until August. Brazil should close 2021 with the worst inflation since 2015, despite unemployment still at 14%.

Campos Neto’s speech comes days before the next Copom meeting, scheduled for September 21 and 22. In the stock market, the statement of the president of the Central Bank reduced expectations of more aggressive hikes in the next meeting, and the interest rate with future maturity in October was falling 2% around 11:00 am.