Companies criticize maintenance of interest rates by the Central Bank – 05/03/2023 – Market

The maintenance of the Selic at 13.75% by the Copom (Monetary Policy Committee) of the Central Bank this Wednesday (3) was met with harsh criticism by business representatives.

For the CNI (National Confederation of Industry), Copom’s decision is wrong. In a note, the president of the CNI, Robson Andrade, said that the current level of the Selic excessively restricts economic activity and is no longer necessary to guarantee the deceleration of inflation in the coming months.

“I repeat what I said in the Senate [em audiência sobre o tema com o governo e o BC] a few days ago: companies are taking credit at more than 30% and the productive sector cannot bear to pay that level of interest”, says Andrade.

José Carlos Martins, president of CBIC (Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry), says that it is necessary to “urgently resolve the uncertainties that the current scenario has generated, as it is impossible to grow with a base rate of this size”.

Abrainc (Brazilian Association of Real Estate Developers) talks about barriers to job creation in Brazil. “Expenditure on bank interest jeopardizes the financial health of companies, which are unable to grow and find it difficult to pay their mandatory expenses”, he says in a note.

José Ricardo Roriz, president of Abiplast (plastics industry), also sees risks. “Even with the possibility that Brazilian inflation has not yet shown a tendency to ebb towards the target, the country has one of the highest real interest rates in the world, and the consequences of this are reckless for the Brazilian economy”, he says.