Gabriel Galípolo was appointed by Lula to the Central Bank’s monetary policy board, but his inauguration still depends on a Senate hearing.| Photo: Albino Oliveira/Ministry of Finance

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Gabriel Galípolo, was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of Banco do Brasil this Friday (12). He is also one of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s (PT) nominees to occupy the Central Bank’s monetary policy directorate, but he still depends on a sabbath in the Senate to take office.

Galípolo now heads the board of the state-owned bank along with the now vice-president Anelize de Almeida, attorney at the National Treasury since 2006. in full).

Gabriel Galípolo was appointed to the BC through Minister Fernando Haddad, and is seen by the government as a way to “allow greater coordination of fiscal and monetary policies in the sense of more integration, to give a uniform perspective to the country, a single direction ”, said Haddad last Monday (8).

Lula’s expectation is that Galípolo will influence the decisions of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Central Bank, responsible for formulating the country’s basic interest rate. Since the beginning of the government, the president has been waging a campaign to reduce the Selic rate, constantly criticizing Roberto Campos Neto, who presides over the monetary authority.