President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Thursday (16) that the autonomy of the Central Bank must be changed if the country’s economy does not improve. The petista is experiencing a dispute with the president of the monetary authority, Roberto Campos Neto, over interest rates. The Chief Executive defends a reduction in the country’s basic rates, the Selic, while Campos Neto prefers to keep it at 13.75%.
As the Central Bank autonomy law was sanctioned in 2021, the definition is in the hands of the financial institution. Lula, however, has already described the legislation approved by Parliament as “nonsense.” In an interview with CNN this Thursday (16), the president said that if the autonomy of the Central Bank brings “something extraordinarily positive,” it can be maintained. “What I want to know is the result. Will the result be better? An autonomous central bank will be better, the economy will improve, great, but if it doesn’t improve, we have to change it,” he said.
Lula also harshly criticized the financial market, which, according to the president, “is very fragile and needs to be a little more serious.” “If I gave a speech that Joe Biden gave last week in the National Congress [estadounidense], they would call me a communist, a terrorist. This market is very conservative. You have to like making money, but you have to have a little social sensitivity,” he said.
Translated by AZAHARA MARTIN ORTEGA
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