Haddad participated this Friday (19) in an event promoted by the Central Bank.| Photo: Diogo Zacarias/Ministry of Finance

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, again defended this Friday (19) the reduction of the basic interest rate, the Selic. The minister said that the country is ready to start a cycle of falling interest rates. “We think there’s room to start a cycle [de queda nos juros] but anyway, there is a technical team there [no Comitê de Política Monetária do BC] that is formed, and that we seek to respect”, he said. He participated in an event promoted by the Central Bank.

According to Haddad, the Treasury has already submitted data to the BC that show that the country’s economy would support a reduction in interest rates, informed Agência Brasil. “Due to the behavior of future interest rates, the exchange rate, and inflation itself, and this at a time when the economy is showing that it is not sluggish, as was thought at the beginning of the year, it is slackening because rates are very high,” he said.

However, Haddad stressed that the debate on interest rate policy cannot be an “affront” to the Central Bank. The minister stated that the ministry and BC should work in harmony. “We have to understand that discussing monetary policy is not an affront to the monetary authority. Quite the contrary, everyone who is in this room and watching us knows that we are competing for the same objective”, he said.

According to Haddad, the ministry and BC must behave as two arms of the same organism. “Remembering that there is not one hand more important than the other, and there is not one that is reactive to the other, both hands have to work actively towards the benefit of adequate regulation”, he pointed out.