The Minister of Finance, Dario Durigan, stated on Wednesday (1) that the issue of Banco Master and Banco de Brasília (BRB) is the responsibility of the Central Bank (BC). “It’s up to us to provide technical support,” he said, in an interview with GloboNews.
Durigan said that public banks – specifically mentioning Caixa Econômica Federal and Banco do Brasil – can buy BRB assets, but there will be no federal intervention in the institution controlled by the Federal District. “The DF government has to be able to deal with the BRB situation, and if, eventually, we escalate to a situation of systemic risk, the Central Bank itself has to conduct a conversation with the federal government”, he stated.
According to the minister, today there is dialogue and collaboration regarding the topic. “Caixa and Banco do Brasil can work with BRB as private banks work. So, they can buy portfolios, buy, eventually, bonds. The Treasury is giving the OK to transfer operations to other banks, even to avoid losses, but what they don’t have today is help and federal intervention in BRB or DF.”
Asked whether the issue of federalization can move forward, Durigan replied: “There is no OK from the Ministry of Finance to move forward in this federalization debate.”
Electoral debate
Urged by journalist Miriam Leitão to talk about political pressures in an election year, Durigan said he was “a technical minister, but very open and sympathetic to politics”. And he compared the situation in 2026 to that in 2022, saying that this electoral cycle also needs to be different in terms of the economy.
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“I think that 2026, including for the stability of the economy, for those who look at the economy and say, ‘hey, I’m going to invest in that country’, it is important that we have institutional stability and respect for the rules of the game”, said Durigan, who added: “2026 is very different from 2022, because President Lula is releasing our government now, because we have had Minister Haddad as Minister of Economy, Minister of Finance of the country for three years, and have maintained the team with me at the head of the ministry for this moment of transition, in which we will fulfill our duty of safeguarding public accounts, at the same time that we will set an example of how important democracy is for the country”.
