Lira defends the BC’s autonomy and says that the model is a “world brand”

The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said, this Thursday (9), that the autonomy of the Central Bank is “a world brand” and that this model of management of the monetary entity “will not retroact” .

Lira also stated that there is a majority in the Chamber against the change in the independence of the BC, a model approved by the National Congress in 2021 that establishes rules with the aim of reducing political interference in the monetary entity.

“I have the listening, the tendency of what the majority of the plenary thinks. With respect to the independence of the Central Bank, this matter will not be retroactive. The independent Central Bank is a world brand. Brazil needs to insert itself in this context”, said Lira, in an interview with journalists in Cascavel during the agricultural fair Show Rural Coopavel.

Lira’s statement takes place in the context of repeated statements by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) against the current basic interest rate (Selic) established by the Central Bank.

Despite Lula’s various criticisms of the management of the BC by the current president, Roberto Campos Neto, the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, denied, on Wednesday (8), that the government is studying any change in the BC’s autonomy.

“There is no discussion within the government about changing the Central Bank law. There is indeed a desire for what is in the Central Bank’s objectives to be increasingly pursued by all, ”he said.

In addition to Lira, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), also took a stand this week against the change in the autonomy of the Central Bank.

“It is an autonomy that removes political criteria from an organ that has a very strong technical aspect, which is the Central Bank”, said Pacheco. high, and Campos Neto so that it is possible to “have a successful common purpose”.

“They are all men of good intentions. When these men come together, problems are solved,” he added.

This Wednesday (8), the tension between the government and the current president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, was one of the subjects of Lula’s meeting with leaders of the Planalto support base.

Lula’s base parties started a movement to approve an invitation for Campos Neto to provide clarifications to deputies and senators about the Selic rate, currently at 13.75% per year. With that, discounting inflation, the real interest rate estimated by experts is just over 7% per year, one of the highest in the world.