PT leader in the Senate says “there is no climate” to discuss BC autonomy

Senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES), leader of the party in the Senate, sees that the discussion on the autonomy of the Central Bank should not be put on the agenda at this time by Congress. In an interview with the Politics 360 website published this Saturday (11), the parliamentarian says that the friction between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Roberto Campos Neto, president of the institution, should be resolved in conversations through the Minister of Finance , Fernando Haddad.

Since the beginning of the new government, Lula has been harshly criticizing the monetary authority because of the Selic interest rate, which has been at 13.75% per year since August 2022 and was maintained at the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) , last week. Disagreement took hold of members and allies of the government, although not the entire government base is in consensus with the discussion.

Contarato stated that Lula’s criticisms of the Central Bank are valid and are part of the government program that people chose when they voted for him. But, he doesn’t believe that debate will be done now.

“I don’t think there is a climate for that, but it is something that has to be reflected on to what extent this Central Bank autonomy is positive”, he said in the interview.

The senator recognizes that the autonomy of the monetary authority was established by a law passed by Congress that needs to be complied with, but that it is up to the government to be “vigilant” to the measures taken by the monetary authority. Contarato recalls that Campos Neto was appointed to the presidency of the Central Bank by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), with a mandate until the end of 2024.

“I am sure that a conversation between the Minister of Finance, the president of the Central Bank himself, will be better to overcome any friction or different point of view that may occur there”, he added, reinforcing the need for dialogue for a “republican” relationship. and within the law.

Caution when summoning Campos Neto for hearing

Throughout this week, the leaders of the Chamber of Government, José Guimaraes (PT-CE), and of the PT, Zeca Dirceu (PT-PR), were in favor of summoning the President of the Central Bank to explain his monetary policy to the deputies. For Contarato, caution is needed when thinking about this and “understanding what the repercussions of any movement that is made as an invitation or summons will be. Is this the best way?” he asked.

Also this week, the president of the house, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), defended the autonomy of the institution and said that “this matter will not retroact”. He speaks in the same tone as the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pachedo (PSD-MG), which Congress approved and the Federal Supreme Court (STF) confirmed the decision.

“He [Pacheco] it is having an extremely republican behavior, saying ‘look, today the autonomy of the Central Bank was studied and debated’. This was understood, legitimized, approved, and it’s as if he said ‘today there is no discussion about this autonomy. That’s what’s here, that’s what we’re going to do,’” said the senator.

For Contarato, it would be more prudent to create a periodic calendar of debates in which the president of the authority takes and hears the demands of the parliamentarians, and not a summons to give explanations due to the repercussion of speeches. The senator claims that this would be the ideal path for discussion within the term of office of the president of the Central Bank.