The minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations of the Presidency of the Republic, Gleisi Hoffmann, criticized the Central Bank for the new discharge of interest, without citing the president of the institution, Gabriel Galipolo, appointed by the President of the Republic, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to command the institution.
BC’s Monetary Policy Committee (COPOM) increased on Wednesday, 18, the basic interest rate (Selic) at 0.25 percentage point ,. The decision was unanimous.
On social networks, Gleisi became one of the most critical voices to the monetary authority’s policy to rise interest to control inflation.
In the previous management, by Roberto Campos Neto, appointed by former President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the minister, who was in the House as federal deputy, published criticism referring to the agency as the “BC de Campos Neto”. Now, with a Lula nominee presiding over the Central Bank and voting for the high interest rate, it was charged by the opposition for a position.
“The time the country combines slowdown in zero inflation and primary deficit, economic growth and international investment that reflect confidence, it is incomprehensible that copon further increases the basic interest rate,” Gleisi said, without quoting Glypol. “Brazil hopes that this will indeed be the end of the cycle of stratospheric interest,” wrote the minister.
President Lula, another BC critic on interest rates, did not comment until the morning of Thursday, 19.
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The Central Bank justified the decision due to the scenario with high inflation projections, resilience in economic activity and pressures in the labor market.
Copom has signaled that it can keep interest rates at the current level, but may increase the rate again if necessary.
