Campos Neto says interest rates will be as low as possible and criticizes economic analyzes

The president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, said in an interview with journalist Míriam Leitão, broadcast on GloboNews on Wednesday night (27/12), that in the last year he will be in office, interest rates will be as low as possible and he also highlighted that “economic analyzes have been very wrong”. The inflation ceiling defined by the National Monetary Council (CMN) is 3.25%.

“It’s difficult to talk about 2024 without at least putting into perspective that economic analyzes have been wrong a lot lately. They’ve been wrong on growth, they’ve been wrong on inflation a little, they’ve been wrong on a lot of jobs, they’ve been wrong on credit numbers,” he said.

Regarding the prospects for 2024, the president of the BC also highlighted that the body made mistakes in economic projections for the year and that the results were better than the analyses.

“Looking at 2024 with this bias, I think there is a good chance of having a more positive bias. It is important to deliver inflation within the target, and interest rates as low as possible”, he highlighted.

According to Campos Neto, despite the interest rate “still being high, it has been decreasing”. “The reforms have helped, the capital market part helped, the part of having better recovery of guarantees helped, the part of helping to structure targeted credit helped. Every time there is an inflationary shock we have to raise interest rates less. But on average it is smaller,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of interest-free installments, Campos Neto was adamant: “there are no interest-free installments, the cost is always incorporated. What we can analyze is who pays and how it is distributed, finding a solution where everyone is comfortable without affecting consumption. What we have in the plan is to regulate what already exists”.

The BC president also commented on new updates for Pix. The main new feature should be the ability to schedule payments, a method similar to automatic debit. And he highlighted that the goal for 2024 is to further internationalize this payment system.