Gleisi attacks Campos Neto and the “broad autonomy” of the Central Bank

PT president and federal deputy Gleisi Hoffmann used social media to attack the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto and his defense of more autonomy for the Central Bank (BC). When commenting on an interview given by Campos Neto to Folha de S.Paulo, Gleisi pointed out that the monetary policy adopted “continues to threaten the country”. “They want to subject Brazil to a monetary dictatorship”, said the deputy in a post on “X” (formerly Twitter).

In his interview with Folha, Campos Neto, who has presided over the BC since 2019, spoke about the possibility of approving the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that expands the institution’s autonomy. With this PEC, the BC can now have financial and budgetary autonomy, in addition to operational autonomy, which was approved in February 2021.

Gleisi criticized Campos Neto’s management, saying that “the BC’s exorbitant interest rates brought down investments and stagnated growth in the second half of the year”. “It continues to defend interest rates above reality, containment of credit and also points to better salaries as a “risk”. They want to subject Brazil to a monetary dictatorship”, said the deputy. Despite the PT member’s statement, during Campos Neto’s administration, the country’s basic interest rate, the Selic, reached the lowest level in history.