Meirelles says that Lula is following Dilma’s policy on the economy

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Former president of the Central Bank in the first two terms of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), economist Henrique Meirelles assessed this Wednesday (8) in an interview with GloboNews that Lula is following, in the field of interest rates, the economic policy of the Dilma Rousseff government. “Apparently he [Lula] is now following exactly what happened in the Dilma government. There is little probability that it will work,” said the economist, who was also Finance Minister in the Temer government. Meirelles reported the charges on the interest rate that Lula made to him when he commanded the Central Bank. “In fact, sometimes he bored. He wanted me to take some action regarding the interest rate and I explained that it was not possible, ”he said. Lula raises attacks on Campos Neto while the government and the Central Bank offer a truce Old-fashioned complaint The former president of the Central Bank recalled that, at the time, Lula made the same complaint – that, with high interest rates, the economy would not grow. “He would tell me: ‘Meirelles, but if you don’t lower the interest rate now, Brazil won’t grow’. He could have exonerated me, but he didn’t,” he added. According to Meirelles, in practice, the opposite of what the PT’s political wing predicted happened: the economy grew, even with high interest rates, and the basic rate fell as the then Minister of Finance, Antonio Palocci, promoted a fiscal adjustment. When Lula took office in 2003, the interest rate was at 25.5%, well above the current 13.75%. Then, in February 2003, the Central Bank of Meirelles raised the interest rate to 26.5%. By the end of Lula’s second term, the economy had grown by 7.5% and the interest rate had dropped below double digits.

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