Dilma criticizes Central Bank interest rates – 02/12/2023 – Market

Former president Dilma Rousseff (PT) criticized, this Sunday (12), the interest rates practiced by the Central Bank, echoing the speeches of Luiz Inácio Lula da silva (PT) against the management of Roberto Campos Neto at the head of the institution.

According to Dilma, the Lula government took power a short time ago to be held accountable for the country’s economic situation, as has been criticized. She also stated that the interest rate of 13.75% determined by the Central Bank will hinder the country’s economic development.

“I mean that when the president questions interest rates, he is defending the future of his government,” said the former president during the party’s 43rd anniversary event.

For her, the interest rate condemns Brazil to “a depression, a moment of loss of income, of employment”

In addition to putting pressure on inflation expectations and the interest rate curve, causing a reverse effect to the intended one, the statements made by President Lula and the PT against the Central Bank have been permeated by inaccuracies and exaggerations.

Despite the fact that the monetary authority makes more references to the fiscal area now than under Bolsonaro –more so than during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, when public accounts registered an unprecedented gap–, citations to wrong numbers, complaints that the autarchy supposedly remained silent in the previous government and the disregard for the inflationary risk in the artillery against interest rates represent stumbling blocks that undermine the party’s discourse.

During the PT event, Dilma also defended that Eletrobrás should be state-owned and that the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) —headed by Aloizio Mercadante, the target of criticism from the opposition— be remodeled.

“The BNDES needs to be remodeled in the sense of being an investment bank”, he said.

Dilma should take over the international bank of the Brics. Questioned at the exit of the event, she did not answer about this possibility.

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, opened a dialogue with the president of the New Development Bank (NBD), Marcos Troyjo, asking him to resign as president of the institution, also known as Banco do Brics, a group of countries that brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. His term in office runs until 2025.

A critic of Lula (PT), Troyjo was a commentator for Jovem Pan and a columnist for Sheetand even referred to the petista as “convict” in appearances on the radio.

When Jair Bolsonaro (PL) arrived at the Presidency of the Republic, he was invited by the then Minister Paulo Guedes to assume the special secretary of Foreign Trade and International Affairs of the Ministry of Economy.

In May 2020, he was appointed by Guedes to chair the Banco do Brics, when he was elected for a five-year term. He had been the founder of BricLab, a center for studies on the Brics at Columbia University (USA).

Brazil’s relationship with the Brics is a priority for the president, who would demonstrate the importance he attaches to the issue by nominating the former president for the mission.

Haddad has spoken at least twice with Troyjo.

Dilma Rousseff initially resisted the idea of ​​taking over the Banco do Brics, since the institution’s headquarters are in Shanghai – a direct flight from the city to Brazil takes about 30 hours.

But the challenge of the current Brazilian and international situation would have made her change her mind, admitting to take charge of the institution.